


The Mystery of Manhattan

by subancha



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Angst, Arranged Marriage, Background Relationships, Body Worship, Bratting, CEO, Demonic Possession, Dom Mark Lee (NCT), Enemies, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Crack, Horror, Inspired by Fifty Shades of Grey, M/M, Mild S&M, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Mystery Stories, Office, Pet Names, Praise Kink, Rival Sex, Spirit World, Spirits, Summoning, Supernatural Elements, Witch Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Witches, chaebol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:27:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 20,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23329963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/subancha/pseuds/subancha
Summary: "You are so easy to read, Lee Minhyung. A young CEO, who is loved by everyone, yet still lives completely alone. You dislike routine, even though you have trapped yourself in one. That means you're either a masochist or a fool. I'd prefer the first option.""And what about you?"Haechan smiled wickedly, before taking one last look towards the man in the suit who fearlessly stared him down. Minhyung was brave, no question there. Something about the playful flame in Haechan's eyes made him angry, so furious, that he could punch the wall. And yet, neither of them backed down."I'm everything you claim to hate."
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 59
Kudos: 108





	1. Chapter 1

If you pass the Han river and walk along the long streets of Seoul, a rustic tower-like house catches the eye. The staircase entrance welcomes warmly every guest, no matter the time. The people around like to call it the Manhattan house. It’s not a mall, far from that. It’s special, like the boutiques on  des  Champs-Élysées in the center of Paris. 

On the first floor, the Manhattan bakery serves one of the most delicious pastries known to man. The owner, Zhong Chenle, is a young man in his twenties, never backing down from a challenge nor a chance to make people around him smile.

Right above the bakery, the daycare of Na Jaemin offers children a chance to play around, when their parents have other duties to fill. Next to the daycare, the terrarium of Huang Renjun offers mental satisfaction and aesthetic pleasure for the people of the mind. A chance to read amongst flowers and trees, isn’t that the dream? 

The third floor provides shelter to the technological and physical people. Park Jisung and Lee Jeno own the floor with their gadgets and charm. Internet cafe for the gamers and a gym to stay beautiful, even when past your prime. 

Need to stay fashionable? Taeyong, Ten and Lucas are your guys. The newest spring collections and fashion tips are on the fourth floor. 

But this house needs a boss, a leader for everything to work like a well-oiled machine. The young CEO of the Lee industries - Lee Minhyung, has his eye on everything. But to be honest, Lee Minhyung doesn’t boss anyone around. Firstly, because it would be weird to yell at his friends. And secondly, he has the people to yell at in his office complex on the very last floor. 

But that’s not it, is it? 

The story starts when Lee Haechan moves in the building with his witch shop. The mysterious boy wins the inhabitants of the building over with his charisma and mystique, but not everyone is a fan of the new resident. Certainly not Lee Minhyung. In the turmoil of heated relationships, things get even more complex, when a mystery unravels itself in the very heart of Seoul. 

So what exactly will happen?

Let’s find out together.

Will it include ghosts, spirits and stubborn boys?

Most definitely.


	2. Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met...)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where it all began? The moment when Na Jaemin and Zhong Chenle walked in to give Lee Haechan muffins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3UfQdB83CkJbBmDn6aHRyh

It was a day like any other; a lot of customers barging in and out and the smell of Chenle’s famous apple strudel filled the air. Minhyung had a skip in his step and even though his briefcase was filled to the brim with several documents and reports, he didn’t let anything ruin his great mood. As he stepped into the elevator to get to his floor, Lucas from the Fashion Factory on the fourth floor ran inside in such a hurry, he almost fell and dislocated his neck.

“Woah, are we racing Usain Bolt or what?”

“Ten will behead me if I’m late again, especially today,” said Lucas in between pants and touched up his appearance in the tall mirror. Minhyung stared at the man with a scowl, before checking the time on his watch. 

“What’s today?” Minhyung threw the question in the air, making Lucas stare at him with a dubious expression.

“You’re literally the boss, how could you forget?”

The elevator bell dinged and Lucas stepped out, never answering the question. Minhyung shrugged and thought to himself that it was presumably nothing major. As the young CEO reached the top floor and walked out, he saw his assistants hard at work. There was something truly pleasing about that sight, the feeling of owning a small empire.

“Good morning, would you like a coffee, sir?”

“Sure, Yuta. Get me a black with sugar.”

His secretary smiled widely before disappearing to the lounge, leaving Minhyung a little privacy. The black leathery armchair behind his table shone under the warm spring sun and the carefully organized papers on the table made Minhyung smile. 

A little while later, our young CEO sat down with his coffee and spared a small glance out of the window. As he concentrated more on the sight, he noticed a moving truck and a man lifting boxes to their building.  _ Wait, what?! _

“What is the date…? God damn it, calendar, where is it when I need it?”

After a minute of banging the drawers to find the thing, Minhyung checked the date on his calendar and then looked out of the window once again. He now understood what Lucas was talking about. How could he forget that they had a newbie move in to the fourth floor that day? He had never seen said newcomer, but his father told him that he owed a favor to a wealthy family in Jeju and this was a way to pay for it.

“Boss, are you okay?”

Yuta peeked from between the door to ask the question, but Minhyung didn’t answer. He just nodded and waved for the man to close the door. 

“Should I go and introduce myself? No, the others will do just fine. Maybe later? I’ll just casually walk by and say hi. Yeah, that will do. Okay, what the hell are you doing Lee Minhyung? Talking to yourself, a new low.”

Minhyung took a deep breath, before standing up and then sitting down again. He opened his computer and decided to escape into his work for hours like he ordinarily did. Little did he know, he was about to throw everything normal in his life out of the window.  
  


**\---**

Lee Haechan took his first look at the spacious room that was about to be his shop. An approving grin rose on his face and with a grunt, he planted the last box on the wooden floor.

An antique mirror on the other side of the room piqued his interest and with enthusiastic steps, he made his way to the delicately curved piece of furniture.  His reflection on the surprisingly clean glass was gratifying to the eye, the strands of carefully styled hair with a maroon undertone complemented his soft features, making his eyes look sharper than usual. Needless to say, he was very confident about his looks.

“Hello! Are you Haechan?”

Two young men with bright smiles on their faces stood in the doorway, bringing Haechan out of his own world. After a small silence, Haechan nodded and stepped closer to the two men. One had outstanding pastel pink hair and neutral-toned clothing, while the other had an apron tied tightly over his waist and was holding a basket which seemed to be sheltering muffins. 

“Yes, the one and only. I suppose you guys work here, right?”

“We do, I’m Jaemin from the daycare from one floor under you and this is Chenle, he owns the bakery,” Chenle held out the basket for Haechan to take and with a small blush, he did take it. When Haechan peeked under the red towel, the heady aroma of freshly baked goods filled the air. 

“Want to help me unpack?”

“You can do that later, we have to introduce you to others!” The baker spoke aloud and he seemed very excited, which made Haechan coo. Jaemin rolled his eyes and took Haechan’s hand to pull him with them. The trio passed the short hallway and entered a boutique with hip songs playing on repeat and the white brick walls were covered in clothing racks, which seemed almost too cliche. There were three people behind the cash register, one sitting on top of the counter, chatting. Haechan’s jaw almost fell to the ground when he saw just how well they were dressed and was almost embarrassed by his own appearance. Navy blue ripped jeans and a black shirt made him look like a fool next to these three. Haechan just hoped the fishnets beneath his jeans would give him more fashion points.

“Hey Lele, what’s the lates-”

“This is the newbie, he just got the place,” replied Chenle with a smug look on his defined face.

It was hard to tell what they thought of him. The tallest among the three nodded approvingly and flashed an almost perfect smile Haechan’s way. That meant a green light, right? Then the one who looked like Jack Frost and an anime character combined stared him down with a cold expression. But the last guy was the hardest to read until he broke into a cheery smile.

“I’m Ten, you are Haechan. Are you the witch?” The last part was said in a curious whisper, which made Haechan sneer. The others shared looks but didn’t say anything.

“Is water wet? Was Oscar Wilde gay? Yeah, I’m the witch. Did the Hecate key give it away?”

Ten clapped and laughed as Haechan sent a wink to his way. The expressions of the others varied from scared to intrigued. Surprisingly, the cold guy seemed to tend for the last option. 

“So you’re like a… witch? Can you fly with a broom and stuff?” Asked the tall guy lad in real seriousness, making Haechan giggle and shake his head. 

“No, but that would be nice. Hollywood has really messed up the image of the real witchery. I’m that kind of witch that works with nature and the moon and other fun stuff like that. I also read tarot cards, but I’m not very good at that,” When Haechan explained everything, the guys started to breathe a little lighter. Ten rolled his eyes and scoffed, as he couldn’t believe he was surrounded by such idiots.

“Can you read for me sometime?” Asked the cold guy hesitantly, like a kitten who was scared to go near water. Haechan laughed warmly and nodded in response, congratulating himself in his mind for getting through to even the ice prince. His first day was going better than he could have ever imagined. 

“Oh, I’m Lucas, I think I didn’t tell you. And this is Taeyong. Have you met Minhyung and the others already?”

Haechan shook his head and sighed. Great, more people than he had to charm. Not that he didn’t like them or anything, but this was already too much human interaction for one day. He preferred the spirits over humans any day, but these humans weren’t even that bad.

“We’ll leave you to meet the others, but you can come by anytime you want. We could give you a makeover! Taeyong, what do you think?”

The man sized Haechan up with his cold stare and with a small grin, gave Ten a thumbs up. Jaemin and Chenle shared a happy look and ordered Haechan out of the store. The next stop was Renjun’s winter garden, where allegedly Jeno and Jisung were hanging out at that same moment. 

It was like entering a small rainforest. A lot of tropical plants and succulents, that Haechan could name in his sleep, were decoring the glass room like they were meant to be there. Haechan decided that this place was probably his favorite in the whole building, and he had been to only two. In the middle of all the wilderness, two boys were having a heated conversation and one was sitting in a white plastic garden chair with a book in hand. The last looked totally uninterested in the discussion next to him.

“For the last time, if you send me another picture of your cats, I’m blocking you,” stated the guy with mouse-like features and a blue oversized sweatshirt. The man in the plastic chair snickered and looked up from his book to see three more guests in his garden.

“Hello, what’s the occasion?”

Jaemin pointed towards Haechan who smiled awkwardly and looked around the garden as if the others weren’t there. The other two finally acknowledged the world around them and were surprised to find a stranger before them. The guy who had sent cat pictures stood up to shake Haechan’s hand and smiled like a puppy. A weird duality - a puppy, who likes cats.

“I’m Jeno, this is Jisung and the nerd is Renjun. If you ever need advice on health, come to me. If you want to know how to get a killstreak in Black Ops, go to Jisung.”

“Sorry, Jeno, but the killstreak thing sounds more interesting,” stated Haechan making everyone laugh, especially Renjun. Jeno looked bummed though.

“Don’t be sad Jenojam or you’ll turn to your customers,” said Chenle and earned a high-five from Jisung, who smiled shyly to Haechan. He guessed that Jisung was the youngest amongst them, which made him the cutest person there.

“I’m Haechan, third floor. By the way, Renjun, can I borrow some of your herbs? I saw you have Cornflower and Witch Hazel here and my stash is almost gone.”   
  


“Sure, come whenever you want,” answered the boy and put down his book to stand up. 

The six had a great time, but after a while, Haechan decided to go back to his floor to start unpacking. It wasn’t going to do it itself, was it? Of course, the others offered to help and after long contemplation, Haechan agreed to it. Although he said that if anyone breaks anything, they’d get cursed, Haechan wasn’t sure everything would go to plan. 

**\---**

After a couple of hours unpacking and arranging stuff, Haechan’s place started to look like a real shop, although there were still some crates to unpack. Jaemin and Chenle were helping him and Lucas from the boutique was making notes for potential interior redesigning. 

Suddenly, a loud shriek from Jaemin scared the hell out of everyone in the wide room. Chenle ran to him with a horrified expression on his face and Haechan was a little nervous about what Jaemin had found.

“Did you find the tarantula or the skull?” Lucas looked at Haechan incredulously before checking behind the crates to find Jaemin and Chenle standing there without saying anything. 

“A tarantula?! Okay, I’m out.”

“Oh, so it wasn’t Sarah. Just put the skull back in the box, I’ll deal with it later,” sighed Haechan and glanced out of the huge doorway to find a man in a suit talking to the cold guy from the boutique. Hah, a suit, so pretentious. 

“Who’s the suit?” Haechan’s curious eyes made Chenle laugh lightly and he shared a look with Lucas, who came closer to the young witch to explain the situation. 

“That’s Lee Minhyung, the CEO of Lee industries. He is filthy rich and basically runs this place, but we’re all pretty much friends.”

“A CEO? He is a little young, don’t you think?” Questioned Haechan with an arrogant smile, making Lucas shrug and dive back into his notes. Haechan decided to not introduce himself first, because who knows, maybe the guy didn’t even care about the new resident and their encounter would be cumbersome. 

Haechan took out his tarot cards to check the deck and decide if he needed new ones. He sat behind his small antique Victorian coffee table and with sharp movements, shuffled the deck. The personalized purple deck matched well with Haechan’s hair because he had always been a man of the aesthetic.

“Lucas! What is all this?” A voice nearing the doorway asked and from the corner of his eye, Haechan could see it was the man in the suit. This was going to be fun.

“Haechan has so much stuff to unpack and we offered to help. You didn’t forget, did you?” The last part was whispered, although Haechan could still hear it. He raised his eyes from the cards to Minhyung, who quite calmly shook his head and finally spared a glance to Haechan. 

From his expression, Haechan couldn’t read out if the man was surprised or appalled. The owlish eyes and high cheekbones made him look younger than he was, although he was pretty young already. The cock of an eyebrow ticked Haechan off for some reason and he bit back his tongue from saying anything that would cause bad consequences in the near future.

“I’m Lee Minhyung and you?”

“Don’t you already know me? I mean, as the boss of everything, you should keep an eye on the people that come in and out this place, you know? But if you don’t, that just means you’re not a good chief.”

The young CEO was taken aback from the remark and scoffed in return. In all honesty, Haechan just didn’t like people in suits. Everyone back home always dressed so formally and were always so polite to each other, although they were stabbing the other in the back. No one was ever honest and it just felt like everyone faked living. If he had to go through this again, he made sure everyone knew that every higher position family was just faking everything to stay in the good lines.

“Excuse me?” Lucas stifled a laugh although it still showed and he earned a glare from Minhyung, who couldn’t believe what he just heard. 

“What, am I wrong?”

“Alright, let’s be nice to each other. We’re a family, okay? Haechan, I put your crystals on the counter in the aisle three,” said Jaemin after recovering from the skull attack and climbing out from the big pile of boxes. Haechan sent him a bright smile and thanked the man for help.

“Crystals? What is this, a mine?” Asked Minhyung from Lucas, thinking that Haechan wouldn’t hear. But of course, he heard everything and stood up to level with the guy. Who did he think he was, making fun of him? All the chaebols were the same.

“Your job isn’t even that important, Lee Minhyung. I didn’t think they’d hire easy people on such a position.”

Chenle’s jaw fell wide open and no one knew what to say to that. Jaemin just gaped at the both, without blinking and Lucas was ready to break the argument if it got any worse. Minhyung, who didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the insult, just smiled haughtily.

“I’m an acquired taste, don’t like me? Acquire some taste.”

“How would you know, you have no taste?”

That infuriated the young CEO just a little and amused everyone else in the shop. Seemed like this battle was won by the newbie, although there were many to come. Lucas patted Minhyung’s shoulder, who had a hard time staying collected and lead the man outside. Jaemin smirked approvingly and gave Haechan a high-five.

“That was so fucking awesome. Welcome to the family, Haechan.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... what do y'all think?  
> my twt: @colettuwu (let's be moots!)  
> my tumblr: https://systemfailing.tumblr.com/


	3. The Reversed Hermit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything has a history, even people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loquor, loqui, quia Athena, ostende te (translation from Latin to English) - I speak for Athena, show yourself
> 
> Ego auxiliatus sum tibi retro reperio viam vestram (tr.) - I will help you find your way back
> 
> The Reversed Hermit - loneliness, isolation, recluse, being anti-social, rejection, returning to society

Over the course of the next week, Haechan got quite a lot of customers shopping for witchcraft essentials and the store started to take shape. Even this guy from Lee Minhyung’s office came by, said that he needed Blue Calcite. Unlike his boss, he was very friendly although a little blunt. 

“Could you put Calcite beside for me? I have to run errands right now, so I’ll come by later,” said the man with sharp facial structure and a wide smile. He wasn’t wearing a suit, but a sweatshirt with a dress shirt underneath, which Haechan relished.

“Sure, for who?”

“Yuta. I’ll come by seven or whenever my boss decides to let me go home. He has a tendency to do over hours every day and it means more work for me as well.”

“That’s so unfair! If he wants to overdo it, that’s his problem, not yours,” Haechan disparaged and sighed with a shake of his head. He took the money Yuta handed him and put it in the cash register.

“It’s good money. I just have to endure him and-”

The bell of the door stopped the conversation as a man they both already knew entered. At least today he wasn’t wearing a suit, but buttondown and black jeans, which was still formal, but a little better. He had a stern look on his face, and Haechan deducted that Yuta was probably late to somewhere. 

“You are behind the schedule for ten minutes. Where is my mail?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I’ll get them for you now. See you later Haechan,” the way Yuta spoke around his boss surprised Haechan. It’s like he changed to a completely different person. Minhyung smirked lightly as Yuta ran out of the shop and then walked closer to the counter.

“I see you want to turn my subordinates against me as well?”

“I don’t need to, they already are against you, sir,” Haechan was already tired of him and with a roll of his eyes, leaned against the counter in a challenging manner. 

“I doubt it, Haechan,” Minhyung said his name like it had a foul taste in his mouth and he had to spit it out. 

A sigh escaped Haechan’s mouth as he started arranging the small bottles on the shelves and hoping that the man would go away. And he did, after taking a look at the entirety of the shop. The door closed behind the man, leaving a hollow feeling behind. Now that Haechan was alone in his shop, he took a glance at the antique mirror that had been there since the start. It had piqued his interest for a reason. Mirrors are usually portals for spirits to enter or exit through and this one was a little too old to be in a new building like the Manhattan. His mind could have been playing tricks, but if there were spirits in this building, Haechan was going to dig as deep as he could to find them. It was his duty as a witch. He lit a blue candle and stepped in front of the mirror, looking directly in it.

“ _Loquor, loqui, quia Athena, ostende te.”_

A deep silence followed. Haechan smiled in defeat, although a little disappointedly and right as he was about to blow the light out, the pack of Tarot cards on his table fell to the ground. He carefully picked it up and when he turned the other side of the deck, his excitement transformed into a sad smile.

“The Reversed Hermit. You are lonely, aren’t you? You and me both.”

Haechan didn’t need an answer to confirm it, but he was happy that he had something to work with. Crystals and herbs got boring over time and he did have time to kill.

_“Ego auxiliatus sum tibi retro reperio viam vestram. ”_

He bid his goodbye to the spirit and put the Hermit on his shrine for a reminder to look into this later. The spirit wasn’t harmful, that he could tell. So what was he doing in the Manhattan building?

  
  


**\---**

It was a tradition to eat Chinese takeout every Wednesday on the terrace beside the Manhattan house. And for the first time, Haechan got an invitation to join all the business owners. The young man got lucky because it was the first time Minhyung had cancelled and used ‘too much work’ as an excuse. But then Haechan thought, maybe it was because of him. 

“Welcome to our humble restaurant, are spring rolls alright?” Asked Jaemin from Haechan, who just laughed and sat down on the bench to dig into the delicious food. 

Twilight had painted the sky in pink and orange hues, making the meet-up feel like it was almost summertime. As everyone conversed about meaningless topics and just joked around, Haechan’s heart felt content, like he had finally found a family. 

But there was someone whose mood was far from that. And that man was Lee Minhyung who was cooped up in his office, almost drowning in documents and bills. As stubborn as he was, he didn’t take a break either, although Yuta insisted.

“Sir, you have been working for seven hours straight, for the love of God, go on a walk or something,” nagged his secretary, although there was a hint of concern in his voice.

“I’m fine, but you can go home now. You’ve worked hard,” for the first time, Minhyung let Yuta go home before him and the man was over the moon. 

The young CEO leaned back on his chair with an exhausted huff of breath escaping his lips. Even if he didn’t mean it, his eyes found their way to the window and to the terrace directly under it, where his friends were eating and having fun. Except for Lee Haechan, who could go and…

“No, don’t go there,” whispered Minhyung under his breath and bit his lip. He picked up his phone, as he knew that he was going to get a call soon, which was exactly what happened.

_“Minhyung, how are you? Working hard, I hope.”_

_“I’m great, father.”_

_“Would you be free tomorrow night?”_

_“Yes, why?”_

_“There’s this charity event we have to attend and your mother has set you up with this lovely girl, she’s an heir of the Son family.”_

Minhyung scoffed and closed his eyes to think about this. In fact, there was nothing to think about, of course, he didn’t want to do it. But as the token good boy, he had to. He really didn’t have a choice.

_“Yeah, sounds… good.”_

_“How’s the Lee boy, that Haechan? I owed his father big time, I hope you are acting nice.”_

_“Everything’s great, we get along.”_

He wanted to hit himself because of how much he didn’t believe his own lie. Minhyung got up from his chair and stood by the window, observing the others playing what seemed like a drinking game. The monster of jealousy woke in the pit of his stomach and didn’t think of falling asleep ever again.

_“You make your family proud, Lee Minhyung. I will send a car to get you tomorrow, dress up.”_

_“Goodbye, father.”_

Minhyung hung up and threw his phone on the table in frustration. He didn’t want to go to the charity event, he really didn’t, although he felt bad for the girl his mom had him set up with. Why, you ask? Even if someone gave him the opportunity, he didn’t have time for a relationship. He sat down again, but this time not to work, but to think about how to get out of this situation. 

**\---**

“I’m surprised he hasn’t done anything. You literally said that he was incompetent for his job,” mentioned Lucas while reaching out for a blanket. 

“I have a feeling he secretly likes getting talked back to. Businessmen are weird as hell.”

Haechan scrunched his nose in disgust and threw Ten with a water bottle, who acted as if Haechan had committed the biggest hate crime in history. Renjun and Taeyong were drinking Red Bull and didn’t even pay attention to the chaos.

“How else would you explain it then?” Asked Jisung with a mischievous smile, taking Haechan by surprise.

“There’s a lot of unexplainable things in the world, that doesn’t mean I want to know the reasoning behind them.”

“Enough with the Lee Minhyung talk, we have to tell Haechan about the legend,” everyone except Haechan murmured in approval and motioned for Chenle to start talking, although Jaemin rolled his eyes skeptically.

“I don’t know if you believe in ghosts. Well, you are a witch so I couldn’t see why not. Basically, the Manhattan building has its own ghost. Let’s say his name is Yoonoh. So the legend says, that Yoonoh died here because he got killed on the floor that no longer exists. It was destroyed when they renovated the building. Yoonoh never got to say goodbye to his fiancee, who he deeply loved, that’s why he haunts the building. Sometimes he messes with the electronics and you can hear footsteps if you concentrate hard enough.”

Haechan’s heart dropped, but he didn’t show it to the others. Could it be that the legend was true? It would explain the Hermit card and the mirror. He shook his head and chuckled, trying to convince the others that he didn’t believe in it. Although he really wanted to.

“I told you he wouldn’t believe something as stupid as this. Ghosts don’t exist,” mumbled Jaemin and got a frown from Chenle. 

“No, I do believe in ghosts. But the legend seems a little…”

“Fake? Yeah, no shit,” interrupted Jeno and Renjun nudged him so he’d shut up. Their dynamic was admirable, Haechan thought.

“It’s late, we should go. Someone go check up on Minhyung and send his perfectionist ass home,” sighed Taeyong and started cleaning up the takeout, getting help from Jaemin and Renjun. Lucas shrugged and headed back to the building to check up on Minhyung, while the others said their goodbyes and left for their homes. 

“Ayo Mark, stop working and let’s go home,” yelled Lucas when he got to the door of Minhyung’s office. He always hated being called Mark for some reason. But when Lucas opened the door with a loud creak, he found the CEO sleeping in his chair. 

“Why are you killing yourself like this? Everyone knows you hate it here,” whispered Lucas and sighed. He decided to let Minhyung get his well-deserved sleep for a couple more minutes, before waking him up. The crumpled up note in Minhyung’s hand fell to the ground and as Lucas picked it up and read it, he snickered silently. 

“So you did miss us. Who would’ve thought?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The supernatural aspect of the story is like 70 percent so if you don't like it then click off :)


	4. Roaring 20s

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, people aren't as bad as they make out to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovely readers! Thank you for enjoying this book as much as I enjoy writing it!
> 
> Should I make a Tellonym or Curiouscat?

There he was, sitting on his office desk and assessing his life choices. Lee Minhyung, the representative of the Lee industries, a young heir, the token good boy. Somehow he couldn’t ever see that in himself. He was just Minhyung, who prized comic books and playing the guitar.

“Sir, the car has arrived in front of the building,” announced Yuta, his secretary and flashed a reassuring smile. Minhyung nodded as a rejoinder, before leaving to get to the first floor. As he decided to take the stairs, he passed by Jeno, who sent him a peace sign and got back to lifting new equipment to his gym. 

As his eyes resided on the familiar shop owned by no other than Lee Haechan, Minhyung rolled his eyes and clenched his jaw. He just didn’t get it, everyone appeared to love Haechan, but something about him just made Minhyung condemn him. Still, there was some part of Minhyung that wanted to get to know him. Haechan was unusual, but Minhyung wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. 

“Lee Minhyung, what are you looking at?” Ten had appeared out of nowhere and asked now with a questioning grin. Minhyung shrugged and was about to walk another flight down the stairs, but Ten hindered him.

“You’re nervous. Tell me what’s troubling you.”

“I’m not nervous! I’m perfectly calm,” as much Minhyun tried to hide the fact that he was shaking in his boots, he gave in and frowned.

“Uh oh, is this a family thing?”

“They’re fixing me up with a girl. I’m going to lose it if I have to sit there the whole charity event, entertaining rich families with snooty jokes.”

Haechan walked out of his store at that exact moment to get coffee from Chenle’s bakery, but then he was met with Ten and Minhyung conversing. There was an uncomfortable silence between the three, but eventually, Haechan smiled slightly, something Minhyung had never seen him do in person. 

“I don’t have the time nor the crayons to explain this to you, but would you step aside so I could walk down the stairs?” 

And with that, Haechan pushed Minhyung out of his way and disappeared to the lower floor, the heels of his boots clicking on the cold stone. Minhyung sent a perplexed look to Ten, who smirked approvingly and then pulled his focus back to Minhyung and his family drama.

“What’s so bad about that? If it’s a pretty girl, maybe you two will hit it off and you’re in for a treat.”

“I’m not sure if I will hit it off with a girl,” told Minhyung with a light shadow of a smile on his face. Ten finally understood the problem that the young CEO was battling with, granting him a supportive glance.

“Go and meet with the girl because I get the feeling that you’re speaking too soon. If it doesn’t work out, to hell with that then.”

“To hell with that. Okay, thanks,” repeated Minhyung with a thoughtful gaze before walking down the stairs to get to the long-awaiting car.

The spring air was a little cold, but not freezing. Minhyung was wearing a classy black and white suit, keeping in mind that these were the clothes people usually wore to charity events. Now he was Lee Minhyung, who had to do everything he could to satisfy his parents.

The sun shone brightly on the hood of the black limousine in front of the Manhattan house. Minhyung took a deep breath before entering the car and plastering on a fake smile he knew would falter as soon as he saw that girl he was set up with. It didn’t feel right from the start, but to hell with that.

**\---**

“What are you doing tonight? I have a plan,” whispered Lucas, elbows on the store counter while Haechan sat on his buoyant chair and ate kimchi rice. The young man shrugged and sent Lucas a suspecting look, which was answered by a puppy-smile.

“Be at the boutique at four, Taeyong and Ten have a surprise for you!”

“A surprise? Are they going to jump out of a box with balloons or something?” Haechan interrogated with a charming laugh, standing up and counting the money he had earned. It was primarily three-month rent, which made Haechan more pleased than he allowed himself to show. He wasn’t affluent like his parents, he had abandoned that lifestyle long ago. 

“No, nothing like that. You’ll see,” said the man with an odd tone to his voice.

“Haechan! Oh my god, you have to help me!” Renjun ran to the store with such a hurry, the door almost fell off. Lucas looked around him in bewilderment and Haechan quirked his eyebrow as Renjun hid under the table. 

“What the hell is going on?”

“I told Jaemin that Jeno broke his phone, but it was actually me and they both know and want to kill me.”  
  


“I would kill you too. Why did you break Jaem’s phone?” Haechan sighed and finished off his kimchi rice and Lucas snickered like a child.

“I, uh… I sent a picture, by accident, to Nana…”

Haechan’s mouth fell ajar and Lucas exchanged a bewildered stare with the young witch, before realizing the agenda. A squeal left Lucas’s mouth and Renjun rose from under the table with a judgy expression. 

“What kind of picture?!”

“Is it what I think it is?” Renjun rolled his eyes at the both of them but didn’t deny it. 

“Huang Renjun, you’re wild!” Yelled Haechan and almost dropped his chopsticks, but Lucas caught them with his superhuman reflexes, although usually, he was so clumsy that he could fall over while walking on a straight path.

“I got drunk and sent a… photo. To Jaemin. It’s not that big of a deal, alright?” Even though Renjun was being very pushy about it, the redness on his cheeks and ears gave away that he was a little embarrassed. Suddenly, the three heard rapid footsteps approaching them, so Renjun ducked under the counter again and told the two to act normal.

“Hey, have you guys seen Renjun?” 

Jeno and Jaemin entered the shop, cautiously looking around to see if anything was out of place. Lucas swayed his shoulders and Haechan scratched his head, which made Renjun shake his head at how dumb they looked attempting to lie.

“What did he do?”

“He broke my phone and then accused Jeno, who didn’t have anything to do with this,” said Jaemin with an undertone of disappointment. 

“I’m sure it was just an accident, but we haven’t seen him.”

Jeno nodded and dragged Jaemin out of the shop. Haechan could see why they would be mad, but honestly, he was with Renjun on this. Having your nudes in a coworker’s phone wasn’t the most pleasant way to build a bond. 

“I hate you guys.”

“Love you too,” beamed Lucas and high-fived Haechan, who was laughing at Renjun, who looked like a small angry hobbit. 

**\---**

There were many fancy cars in front of the city hall and even fancier people roaming around and conversing about different topics like world hunger, stock prices and more. And in the middle of those fancy families, stood Lee Minhyung, who held to himself and didn’t even bother making polite small talk. Still, he entered the mansion-like building with small anticipation, like he was waiting for something impactful to happen. 

“Minhyung, here you are! We were starting to worry,” said his mother with a warm smile and gave his son a hug, which felt so artificial.

“How’s business?” Questioned his father, waiting for Minhyung to say anything wrong, but the young man just smiled gently. 

“No business talk today! Minhyung, there’s someone we’d like for you to meet,” his mother warned accompanied by a laugh. That someone was probably the Seo girl, wasn’t it? The family of three approached another family, where the mother didn’t even pay attention to what was happening around her and the father, maybe in the fifties, had a strict expression on his face, like everyone around him were his enemies.

“Meet our son, Minhyung, these are the Seos.”

“We have heard many good things about you,” answered the man with a surprised grin. Minhyung bowed politely and looked around him, hoping to find the girl he was set up with. She must’ve been with her family, right?

“Oh, Wendy dear, come here!” Called the father out to a woman in a long black gown, who was conversing with a group of people Minhyung’s age. When she turned around, Minhyung thought in the back of his head that this wasn’t as bad as he assumed, although he’d have to tell Wendy that he wasn’t interested. 

“You must be Minhyung, nice to meet you,” approached Wendy to the group. Minhyung nodded respectfully; he had decided to not speak the whole time, he didn’t want to face any consequences, if there were to be any.

“We’ll leave you two alone.”

As soon as both families fled, Minhyung could breathe a little easier. Wendy noticed that, although she didn’t mention it. 

“You don’t talk much, do you?”

“I do, just not around my parents. It’s easier that way,” explained Minhyung and sighed.

“I get that. I love my parents, don’t get me wrong, but I want to do my own thing, y’know?”

Minhyung understood that. Hell, he might have found the only person besides himself that understood the constant pressure he got. Wendy pulled out a bottle of champagne out of nowhere, which stunned Minhyung, but it was free booze, so he didn’t have a reason to complain. 

“Do they really think that we’ll hit it off?” Asked Minhyung, taking a generous sip out of the glass bottle and handed it back to Wendy. 

“I like girls, Minhyung. So no, we won’t. I hope you’re not too sad,” Wendy smiled sadly and shrugged as Minhyung raised his eyebrows in astonishment. This fact would make everything a lot easier then, the young man thought. 

“Do they know?”

“I’ve told them many times, but they just brush it off and keep setting me up with men.”

“That sucks.”

**\---**

As promised, Haechan went to see Ten and Taeyong at precisely four o’clock. There were a couple of customers, trying out the latest trends, but Lucas was already busy helping them so Ten and Taeyong were free for Haechan.

“What’s this surprise about?” Questioned the young witch and both, Ten and Taeyong swapped a look, giving Haechan anxiety. 

“Your style is very unique, but you don’t express it enough. It’s time for a makeover, young one,” announced Taeyong and sat him down on a black stool, evaluating Haechan’s features. 

“A makeover?”

“That’s right,” smiled Ten and disappeared into the back room for a couple of minutes, giving Taeyong free hands. It wasn’t the worst idea, thought Haechan and gave Taeyong permission to change his look however he wanted to. Now he was excited to see what would be the outcome. 

After half-an-hour of messing around in the clothing section, both prodigies chose an outfit for Haechan to wear. When it came to makeup and hair, Haechan had already mastered that art, so he did that part himself, although he was forbidden to see the final outfit until the very end. 

While he was sitting on the stool and waiting for Taeyong to call him to the dressing room, Jisung and Chenle joined the project. Both youngsters teased Haechan but were almost as excited to see the final product. 

“What if you’ll look like an eboy?” Asked Chenle and Haechan shrugged while applying highlighter to his cheekbones. His makeup look consisted of two things - golden highlighter and brow gel. But these two things made such a difference, Haechan didn’t even notice how changed he looked by the end.

“That wouldn’t be that bad.”

“When you start looking like Jeno, that’s when we’re going to have to start to worry,” remarked Jisung in all seriousness and Chenle couldn’t help but to laugh like a dolphin. 

“Alright, the last phase is en commence. Jisung stop talking to the mannequins, they’re not real,” Taeyong spoke while pulling Haechan to the dressing room and leaving the two chaotic boys alone. 

Fortunately, Chenle nor Jisung hadn’t broken anything while the other three were busy and Lucas had joined them, which would have been worse, but Lucas held everything in the boutique dearly.

“We’re ready, Haechan come on out!”

Ten and Taeyong sat next to the other three, who were anticipating something very mindblowing, but Taeyong calmed them down. And after a long minute, Haechan emerged from the dressing room, a light grin visible on his glowing face, like he already knew what he looked like.

“Wow,” all three mouths fell open and Haechan got startled, thinking that there was something wrong.

“Do you have a mirror here, I want to see!”

Ten pointed towards the tall glass mirror beside him and Haechan stepped closer to finally see the final outcome. His eyes widened as he finally opened them and the shock set in. The black skinny jeans and belt made his waist look the smallest it had ever been, the subtle chain action on the hip added a little bit of edge to the look. The dark floral short-sleeved button-down suited Haechan like it was made especially for him.

“You’ve done an excellent job, I look as sexy as Taeyong now,” snickered Haechan and got a challenging stare from the man, making him shiver. 

“Hyung, wow, you look handsome.”

“Agreed, I want a makeover too now,” declared Chenle and nudged Jisung. Haechan couldn’t tear his eyes away from the mirror and when he did, he saw the one and only Lee Minhyung walking by the boutique. The young CEO sent Haechan a withering stare and got answered with a mysterious smile. And from that moment on, Minhyung knew that the enigma that was Lee Haechan was something he had to figure out.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haechan's lewk is inspired by this: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3e/2e/b5/3e2eb5530bda7b12acc38427a2759097.jpg


	5. Said The People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some ghosts stay for your whole life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haechan got possessed and Ten met someone special. Also, this might be the longest chapter I have written so far lol

“I still do not like him as a person. I just don’t, we’re too different,” sighed Haechan as Ten tried to convince him to let Minhyung to their traditional terrace feast. Ten rolled his eyes and pulled up in front of the post-office. He was expecting a package with the new collections for summer, so he took Haechan with him because the latter was bored.

“He is not bad, you never gave him a chance!”

“Maybe I don’t need to. Listen, it’s fine if he comes because I’m a newbie and he has been with you guys for who knows how long. But I will never and I mean it, ever, be friends with him,” scoffed Haechan and opened the door for Ten, who tripped and fell to the ground, head first. 

“You okay?” Asked a male voice above Ten and helped him up. Ten nodded and rubbed the back of his head, smiling apologetically.

“Hyung, I think you might have a concussion,” said Haechan and leaned in to see if Ten showed any symptoms of the good old headbang.

“How many fingers am I holding up?” Asked the man with four fingers up and Ten whispered the correct answer when he focused on his hand. 

“He’s fine, aren’t you?”

Ten nodded to Haechan and then looked back to the man who helped him up, his eyes widening and a smile appearing on his lips. Both men shared a long stare before Haechan coughed and broke them out of their daze. 

“I’m Johnny, and you are?”

“You can call me Ten,” the moment was so unbelievably cliche, Haechan almost threw up. But kind of adorable as well. 

“I’ll get you that package, I’ll be right back.”

And let’s just say, when Haechan got back, the two were chatting and joking around, it seemed like they had known each other for at least a couple of years. In the back of his mind, a jealous monster was dancing up and down, dragging down Haechan’s mood. But this wasn’t about him. Nothing ever was.

  
**\---**   
  


When Haechan and Ten made it back to the building with five boxes, it was kind of difficult to get them to the third floor, especially because the elevator had been closed for weeks.

“How many magazines do you need?”

Ten rolled his eyes and took out his phone, sending a bunch of texts to different people, requesting help. You could imagine Haechan’s surprise when three people ran frantically down the stairs to the lobby.

“I only needed one person, but this works as well,” Jeno, Lucas, and Minhyung looked around them, searching for something.

“You told us that the lobby was on fire,” said Jeno with disappointment, causing Haechan to fail in holding back his laughter. Their faces were as if they had seen a ghost.

“We need help with the boxes, gentlemen,” with loud sighs, all three picked up one or two boxes, although Haechan didn’t want to give his, because he could handle carrying one crate. 

“You don’t have to be so stubborn all the time,” muttered Minhyung when his attempt of taking the box from Haechan failed.

“You’re right, I don’t have to. I choose to.”

“Guys cut it off, everyone is tired of your shit,” told Lucas and both rolled their eyes in annoyance.

“So how was Johnny?” Asked Haechan from Ten, who sputtered and hit him lightly, acting like a schoolgirl who had just been asked about his crush.

“Who’s Johnny?” Lucas put down the crates in front of the boutique and ordered the others to do the same. Ten chose not to answer and just shrugged, giving Haechan a death glare.

“It’s this guy we met when we went to the post earlier. Ten tripped and hit his head and the guy helped him up and so on,” said Haechan with a bright smile, earning questioning looks from the others. 

“How romantic.”

“Oh shut up Jeno, you aren’t better when it comes to…”

Ten couldn’t end his sentence, because Jeno practically jumped him to shut him up, but they fell on top of each other, right at the feet of Chenle, who looked at both in confusion. Lucas covered his mouth to not laugh with Haechan and Minhyung, who were already giggling uncontrollably.

“Really, hyung? You can do so much better than Jeno,” announced Chenle and while the two on the floor were processing what he just said, the boy was already running. Jeno opened his mouth to say something, but quickly stood up and ran after Chenle. 

“Well, this is the last time we’ll see Chenle.”

“Are we still up for dinner tonight?” Asked Lucas after he had dragged all the boxes to the boutique for Taeyong to unbox. Ten spared Haechan a glance, who shook his head and then looked at the unsuspecting Minhyung, who thought that it was a conversation between the three others.

“Minhyung, come too, the others miss you,” said Lucas with a reassuring smile and threw his arm around his shoulders.

“I have a lot of work to do and…”

“Just come,” rolled Ten his eyes and scoffed. He had had enough of Minhyung getting excluded because of Haechan, although the latter didn’t endorse it himself, it kind of happened naturally.

“Guys, it’s okay, I know that I’m not that wanted at the moment,” scowled Minhyung at Haechan, although quite subtly. 

“Do what you want then.”

**\---**

While the others were having dinner on the terrace, Haechan was sitting inside, in his shop. He was feeling a little under the weather, so he had decided to be by himself for a little while. The tarot card, that had been forgotten, spun between his fingers as he thought about ways to contact the spirit in some way. He was so concentrated, that he didn’t notice someone walking in.

“What are you doing inside? Don’t you have a friend group to steal from me?”

Haechan didn’t have to see who it was, Lee Minhyung’s voice was considerably distinct. The young CEO pulled out a stool from behind the counter and sat in front of Haechan, but as far away the walls allowed him.

“What do you want?”

“I want to know why do you…” The young witch didn’t let him finish his question and put down the Hermit card, eyeing Minhyung with a head tilt from afar.

“Why do I hate you?”

“So you do. Please, do tell, hm?”

"You are so easy to read, Lee Minhyung. A young CEO, who is loved by everyone, yet still lives completely alone. You dislike routine, even though you have trapped yourself in one. That means you're either a masochist or a fool. I'd prefer the first option."

"And what about you?"

Haechan smiled wickedly, before taking one last look towards the man in the suit who fearlessly stared him down. Minhyung was brave, no question there. Something about the playful flame in Haechan's eyes made him angry, so furious, that he could punch the wall. And yet, neither of them backed down.

"I'm everything you claim to hate."

And right as he said that, Haechan saw red from the reflection of the antique mirror. He turned his head away from Minhyung, who observed him with unexpected curiosity. Blood was flowing from Haechan’s nose like a waterfall and he got lightheaded. When he tried to stand up, his knees buckled and he clutched onto the table corner. 

“Are you okay?”

“Go away,” Haechan still didn’t dare to look at him, so he covered the lower half of his face with the sleeve of his sweater and closed his eyes, yet all he could hear was white noise. Minhyung stood up and stepped closer, but got pushed away with Haechan’s free hand, which was dripping from the blood.

“Woah, you’re bleeding.”

Haechan mumbled something in Latin before he lost consciousness, confusing the man standing before him. Minhyung caught him but had no clue what to do next. He took out his phone and dialed Lucas’s number, who upon hearing what had happened, ran to the third floor alongside Jaemin.

“There’s blood _everywhere_ ,” was all Jaemin said and placed Haechan in a seated position, trying everything to wake him up. Lucas handed Minhyung tissues to clean himself up and called all the others to come upstairs. Renjun, who was the first to see Haechan, stopped speaking altogether. 

“What happened to him?”

“I don’t know,” whispered Minhyung, his gaze focused on Haechan only.

“Jesus Christ,” breathed Ten out and covered his mouth in shock. With a loud gasp, Haechan opened his eyes, scaring everyone, especially Jaemin, who held onto him like it was the only thing that mattered.

“Why did you leave me alone with her, Mark?”

Haechan stared Minhyung with anger, tears falling out of his sockets one by one. Minhyung hadn’t heard that name in years and had absolutely no idea what Haechan was talking about. It almost seemed like he wasn’t Haechan, but someone else.

“Haechan…” said Jaemin as if he was begging the younger, but Haechan looked at him with empty eyes.

“I need to see my brother for one last time,” whispered the young witch and raised his head to look at Minhyung, who was frightened, like everyone else. Haechan’s inhumane movement and stare scared everyone, but that seemed to be the end of Haechan’s power and he fainted once again. Everyone looked at Minhyung, who had sat down and was as white as chalk but didn’t say anything.

**\---**

“So you don’t remember anything?”

The next day, when Haechan had fully recovered and was happily back at work, Jaemin had basically ran to him and checked if he was still himself, which confused Haechan because everything was fine. Actually, everyone had looked at him strangely since morning and asking if he was okay.

“About yesterday? I felt a little sick so I went home early. Oh, I might have talked to Minhyung, but that doesn’t matter,” spoke Haechan calmly, which weirded Jaemin out. Maybe it was just a prank or something, so Jaemin didn’t ask about it anymore. 

“You should go and see Minhyung.”

“Ew, why?”

Jaemin rolled his eyes and nudged him, ”You said some stuff to him. It was pretty bad.”

“Did I really? Odd, I don’t remember,” shrugged Haechan and took off to apologize. But for what? Also, he was going to see his office for the first time. In all honesty, he didn’t care if Minhyung was insulted or not, but because had some morals, he decided to act on them for once in his life. Once he made it to the fifth floor and somehow got in front of his office door, although with a few strange looks from the workers there, he knocked hesitantly.

“It’s open,” Haechan swallowed his pride and stepped in to see Lee Minhyung standing by the tall window, back turned to him.

“So, what do you know about my brother?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3UfQdB83CkJbBmDn6aHRyh


	6. Believer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Minhyung 1, Haechan 0."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this chapter was a fever dream, honest to god.
> 
> ahaha a little freaky

“Your what?”

“My brother. You said…”

Haechan stared at him with pure sincerity, like he didn’t understand anything he just said, but Minhyung wasn’t to be fooled so easily. And he was a fool when it came to Lee Haechan.

“You said my name and how I left you behind,” Minhyung’s explanation sounded like he was begging for Haechan to say anything that could count as an answer. Anything.

“People keep asking me if I’m okay or if I remember, but I really don’t know what you’re talking about. Did I do something yesterday? Because if I did, I’m sorry,” it was a losing battle, thought Minhyung and sighed, thinking of asking the other thing that had been hanging in the air. 

“Okay, if you don’t remember, that’s fine.”   
  


Haechan nodded and almost left the room, but Minhyung stopped him. It looked like he was about to ask something Haechan already knew. And he did and oh boy, how it annoyed him.

“Do you really hate me?”

Haechan clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, an arrogant laugh escaping his lips. Minhyung glared at him like he was his greatest enemy, which he probably was, but it just humored him at this point.

“A chaebol. That’s what you are. That’s your answer,” now it was Minhyung’s turn to laugh. Was that all he got?

“You don’t get it, do you?” Haechan was backed down to the wall, leaning on the cold bricks and his head was gradually starting to hurt.

“Get what?” 

“That you’re like them. Privileged, materialistic, lying, cheating, backstabbing, fake…”

This was the last straw for Minhyung. He couldn’t take being misunderstood and looked down at all the time and naturally, his hands curled up to a fist, yet he didn’t want to hurt anyone. The anger was eating him up inside and Haechan noticed it.

“Hit me,” Haechan wasn’t scared of being physically hurt and he thought that Minhyung was going to actually go through with it and punch him. His fist stopped right in front of his nose but Haechan didn’t flinch. He smiled and lowered Minhyung’s hand, the slight touch burning his hand.

“You don’t scare me, Lee Minhyung.”

“You were like all of them too, but you had a choice. I don’t.”

This sudden counter-attack knocked the air out of Haechan’s lungs. He couldn’t have known anything about that… Right? Minhyung smirked and stepped even closer, his iron gaze never faltering. Haechan’s breathing was unsteady and the confident demeanor he had held so strongly to the end was slowly melting away.

“Minhyung 1, Haechan 0.”

**\---**

  
  


**“** You smell like a wet dog,” stated Renjun as Jeno approached him. It was pouring outside so everyone closed early and headed to Chenle’s bakery because apparently they wanted to do a baking contest. They had the oddest traditions, didn’t they?   
  


“I got locked out of my car and then ran here.”

“You’re going to fall sick,” Renjun scrunched his nose and offered the man his jacket, shaking his head in distress. 

“Alright, is everyone here?” 

Chenle stood in the middle of his huge kitchen, a white paper in his hand and Jaemin by his side to give out directions. First of all, they had to be divided into teams, which earned a few groans.

“So, Taeyong and Lucas, Jisung and Ten, Jeno and Haechan, Minhyung and Renjun and last but not least, me and Chenle,” called Jaemin out and assigned them their parts of the meal the had to cook. The final product was supposed to be Italian cuisine, but Chenle wasn’t sure if they’d even succeed with one part. 

“Where are the pots?” Asked Haechan, who was a first-timer and not yet sure where everything was or went.

“You can have ours,” spoke Minhyung and handed him the big metal pot. Everyone was stunned at how civil they were acting, no snarky comments or fighting. 

Jeno and Haechan had to cook the pasta, Taeyong and Lucas were making the dessert, Jisung and Ten were on the sauce duty, Minhyung and Renjun made the appetizers and Chenle with Jaemin were guarding so anything wouldn’t blow up or catch fire. 

“It’s times like these I wish I’d listened to my home ed teacher,” sighed Jisung while watching Ten stir the sauce and season it from time to time.

“Why, what did he tell you?” Ten looked up from the pot and took the ladle from him.

“I don’t know, I didn’t listen.”

“At least you’re not as useless as Lucas and Minhyung,” snickered Ten and Jisung high-fived the older and peeked at Lucas who almost dropped the mascarpone into coffee and Minhyung who kept burning the bread so Renjun had to banish him from using the oven. At the same time, Jeno and Haechan were dropping the pasta into boiling water and Jeno almost burned his fingers.

“Did you know that Renjun accidentally sent nudes to Jaemin’s phone?” Questioned Haechan casually, making Jeno freeze. Haechan wove his hands in front of Jeno’s face and when he finally came back to earth, his face was so priceless, Haechan burst into laughter.

“Oh my god, you should see your face!”

“He did what?! That’s why Jaemin almost killed me? Also, why in the world would he do that?” Jeno whisper-yelled and Haechan shrugged, putting the lid on the pot.

“Even Renjun has needs, my dear friend.”

“But Jaemin? He is like… Jaemin.”

“Hey! What are you talking about me?” Shouted Jaemin from his position and both boys laughed at how non-aware he looked. 

After an hour of complete tomfoolery, everyone finished with minimal cuts and bruises. Unfortunately, the tiramisu was inedible, no matter how hard Taeyong had tried to save it. Chenle was happy and kept screaming, so Haechan shut him up by feeding him food, but there’s only so much a man can eat. As the night progressed, the conversation themes got weirder and weirder every second.

“I have something to admit to you,” announced Jaemin, clearly tipsy from the wine he found in Chenle’s cupboard. 

“I have a food fetish.”

There were various reactions: Minhyung almost choked, Renjun and Jeno were disgusted, Ten and Haechan couldn’t stop laughing, Taeyong covered Jisung’s ears and Chenle dropped his fork to the ground. Lucas was just confused.

“Oh god, please don’t fuck my chicken parm,” said Chenle with a horrified grimace, making the others either facepalm or giggle even harder.

“That’s not what it means.”

“Can we talk about how freaky both Jaemin and Renjun are, you guys are perfect for each other,” remarked Haechan and received a few agreeing hums and glare from the two.

“I totally agree, when’s the wedding?”

“I just realized they can’t have a cake cutting ceremony because of Jaemin,” sighed Lucas and Taeyong took a huge swig from the wine bottle. With big laughs and confessions, the night was ending and when Haechan got back home, he fell asleep with a smile on his face. 

\---

_ “Yuta, is Minhyung in his office?” Asked Haechan from the secretary who nodded and pointed towards the CEO’s office.  _

_ Haechan flattened down his dress shirt (weird, he never wore dress shirts) and took a deep breath before entering the large room. The tall windows showed a landscape of the Han River and the center of Seoul, which was as buzzing as ever. The young CEO didn’t even look up from his computer and that ruffled Haechan’s feathers a bit. He was seated in his leather armchair, typing so recklessly, Haechan was afraid the keyboard would break. A light cough awoke Minhyung from his daze, who now was staring at the man standing before him with a smug smile. _

_ “Didn’t expect a visit from you anytime soon.” _

_ Haechan walked closer and sat on his lap, which took Minhyung by surprise, but he didn’t say a thing. “Tell me… What did you expect then?” _

_ “Not this. You’re one of a kind, aren’t you?” The older seized Haechan’s waist to hold him still and raised his eyebrow when he noticed that the boy had already unbuttoned half of his shirt and eyed Minhyung’s collar, which was protected by a tie that was about to fly to the other side of the room.  _

_ “Do you like it?” _

_ “You’re a distraction if I’ve ever met one. If we’re going to do this, you have to stay quiet, understood?” Minhyung’s hands disappeared under his shirt, the sudden coldness making Haechan gulp. _

_ “I can take it,” answered Haechan with a mischievous smile and Minhyung chased after his lips as if his life depended on it. Finally, Haechan gave in and let him do whatever he wanted. Minhyung’s wet tongue on his neck and hands feeling up his body made him feel like he was on top of the world, so powerful, yet so fragile. _

With a loud yelp, Haechan woke up and opened his eyes to the dark abyss of his room. He was appalled and with shaky hands, he grabbed his phone on the nightstand, which flashed a bright 4:37. His breathing was heavy like he just ran a mile and the images in his mind did not want to die down, even when he closed his eyes again.

“What the fuck?”

Why in the world did his brain want to imagine that? He hated the guy, through and through. Well, he didn’t hate him, but he wasn’t very fond of Minhyung either, making this whole ordeal a lot weirder. Haechan had never even done  _ it _ , how did his conscience come up with something as vivid as that? He had to see the guy in person the next day and Haechan groaned as he acknowledged that he had to look him straight in the eyes as if he didn’t have  _ that  _ kind of dream about him. Life didn't want Haechan to get by easily, did it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 chapters in one day? I'm bored in quarantine guysss


	7. Never Knew Loving Could Hurt This Good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, life is unexpected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh boy oh boy this is a smut chapter.
> 
> if you don't like smut, don't read it, but it's not that explicit, so...
> 
> Anyways, enjoy! ❤️
> 
> Legend - The Score goes pretty well this chap but Believer by Imagine Dragons is kinda vibe too

The good news was that the elevator was finally usable the next day and Ten and Haechan who had come to work together, received a nice surprise. As Haechan pressed the button and the doors opened, someone who he really didn’t want to see marched in right behind them - life officially hated him. All three: Haechan, Ten and Minhyung stood in silence until the second floor when Haechan finally dared to take a tiny glance at him. He wasn’t wearing a suit that day, but he still looked intimidating as hell and made Haechan look like a child next to him with his knee-high socks and shorts.

Feeling like he had stared too long, Haechan almost looked away again, but the smug smile on Minhyung stopped him. The sly look in his eyes when he peeked back made Haechan’s insides churn. He knew what he was doing, didn’t he? Ten, in the middle of them, looked at both with a certain surmise. The bell dinged and the doors opened for them again, relieving Ten from the stress he got from being with Haechan and Minhyung in the same room.

“Dickhead.”

“Asshole.”

Both parted ways as if nothing had happened, making Ten cry in agony and run after Haechan as fast as he possibly could, but the latter was already too far away.

“Wait for me!”

And with a deep exhalation, Haechan stopped, causing Ten to almost run into him. The older was clearly suspicious of him for some reason. Was it the staring? Was it really that obvious?

“What was that?” Interrogated Ten and Haechan shrugged, smiling softly. 

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” it seemed like Ten had dropped it, so Haechan tried to change the subject by bringing up something equally interesting. They sat down on the sofa in the lounge area that separated the boutique from Haechan’s witch shop.

“So, you and that Johnny guy. Did you exchange numbers?”

“Yes, we did. We’re going on a date tomorrow,” sighed Ten happily and Haechan nudged him playfully. And yes, this time, Haechan actually was happy for him. 

“You think y’all going to go all out?”

“That depends. If we eye-fuck each other like you and Minhyung then sure,” said Ten with an evil smile, making Haechan send him a scandalized look.

“Am I lying though?” And to that, Ten never got an answer (read: didn’t need an answer), because deep down Haechan knew it was the truth, although he didn’t admit it. That was the specialty of Ten, he knew everything about everyone and if he didn’t, he did everything in his power to find out. It was annoying and admirable at the same time.

“Lucas invited us to lunch today, he is going to be there, so I hope you keep it in your pants.”

“I hate you,” rolled Haechan his eyes and flipped him off, but he didn’t know yet how hard it was going to be in a couple of hours to follow Ten’s suggestions. 

**\---**

Haechan and Renjun were the last ones to show up on the main floor when the others were already eating. It was a very hot day for spring, a heatwave had conquered the entirety of Seoul, making sure people couldn’t even breathe normally anymore. Everyone in the table had ditched anything that would count as outwear and even Haechan, who was usually used to high temperatures, unbuttoned the first three buttons on his blouse to let his collarbones breathe. 

“Here you two are! We started eating without you,” pouted Chenle and fanned himself with a magazine he had found on the table. Lucas pulled out two chairs for the newcomers and everyone fell into different conversations. To hide his flushed cheeks that came from letting his gaze linger on Minhyung’s skintight t-shirt (something he would usually never wear, come earthquake or flood) longer that would count normal, Haechan hid behind Chenle’s magazine. 

“I saw the weirdest thing in my dream today,” whispered Renjun to Haechan who smiled apprehensively and nodded in response.

“It was Jisung dancing. Dancing! Have you seen how awkward that boy is, it was like looking at a wooden cane trying to bend itself into a circle.”

“Very funny,” grunted Jisung and stepped on Renjun’s trainers. 

“Speaking of dreams, what did you see tonight?” Haechan played it cool. He could just say that he doesn’t remember and be done with this.

“I don’t...” he looked up from his magazine and glanced at Minhyung, who was looking at him with expectant eyes and decided to have a little fun, ”I don’t know if it’s appropriate for me to say.”

“Now we all want to know!” Yelled Jaemin and Haechan shrugged in retort, his arrogant smile never faltering and eyes never leaving the young CEO. Minhyung chuckled and shook his head in disbelief. Haechan looked ethereal in the sunlight and the way he was looking at him riled Minhyung up - it was unfair.

“Like Haechan would know anything about that,” scoffed Ten and sent him a warning glare.

“Oh, you wouldn’t know how good…”

“Okay, I changed my mind. Don’t tell us, please,” shuddered Jaemin and made the whole table laugh. Haechan smirked as if telling them that he warned them and took a sip from his milkshake and excused himself, saying that he had forgotten his phone upstairs, although he actually needed to… unwind.

“I’ll come with you, I have to give Yuta his paycheck,” spoke Minhyung and stood up, following Haechan to the elevator. Let’s just say, Haechan was internally screaming. This heat wasn’t any good on his brain.

After a short silence in the elevator, the bell dinged for the second floor and Minhyung took his chance there. Haechan avoided his eyes, but when he finally looked back, he got shoved into the elevator mirror. The cold surface sent a small shock through his body and Minhyung, who had been quite collected this whole time, was blinded by the mixture of anger and the sweet taste of revenge.

“Are you trying to turn me on or are you really just that oblivious?” That question made Haechan laugh and he placed his free hand, that wasn’t currently clutched over his head, on Minhyung’s chest.

“Maybe both.”

“Don’t give me that look,” managed Minhyung out in-between breaths. He fucking hated when Haechan looked at him like he had power over him. Like he knew that Minhyung would do whatever for him in a heartbeat. Because he wasn’t falling for that. 

“You want this more than me,” whispered Haechan with a knowing smirk. In truth, no one knew him better than Lee Minhyung - manipulative, stubborn, the wicked. And there was a chance that he knew that Haechan was only being like this to get him to sleep with him. 

The bell dinged for the third floor, but when Haechan tried to escape, Minhyung shook his head and didn’t let him out of his hold. There they both were, out of breath and ready to risk it all to have just a taste.

“I could just walk away and leave you here,” the knee-socks were distracting as hell, but Minhyung was always distracted when it came to Haechan. It seemed as if he had finally gotten to Haechan’s head and that was the only thing he ever wanted. To break him apart and then put back together.

“Just do me already.”

And that wasn’t something to be asked twice.

**\---**

“Boss, are you going to…?” Yuta looked up from his office desk to see his boss and the guy from the witch store downstairs frivolously making out. A small cough caught their attention and Minhyung, who was a little embarrassed in front of his secretary, pointed towards his office and shook his head. Yuta nodded and smiled painfully, glancing at the other one, who had flushed cheeks and had found something interesting on the ground. Didn’t he hate his boss like a week ago? When did his boss come out? What the hell was going on?

“Haechan, let’s go, Yuta is busy,” the young witch glared at Yuta and mouthed for him to not say a word to anyone if there would be an asker. 

The door closed behind Haechan and he got lifted on the office desk by a smirking Lee Minhyung. He kissed him, this time much sweeter and delicately, to savour every moment. Haechan’s thighs pressed on his sides as he wrapped his legs around him, filling in the gap between them with a deep kiss that entwined their tongues once again. 

“Should we lock the door?” Haechan shook his head as an answer and Minhyung chuckled, grasping his thighs so strong, a small moan escaped his mouth.

“Please do that again.”

“I’m not going to…” this time it was Minhyung who had the power over him and he used it so unfairly, yet no one complained. Another moan slipped, this time louder and it sent Minhyung’s brain into overdrive.

Haechan’s arms were bound around Minhyung’s neck, while the other bit into the sensitive skin on his neck, not messing around. It was messing with Haechan’s head; something so small could make him fell down to his knees. They were as close as could be, but both craved more. Especially Haechan, who, despite the incredible heat, was feeling so warm inside, it had to be dealt with it. 

“I want to.”   
  


“I know, but it’s going to hurt,” sighed Minhyung and placed kisses on Haechan’s exposed chest, making the other obey to everything he did or said or wanted. The younger was so responsive to everything, so putty in Minhyung’s hands, the feeling of being in control felt accelerating. He wanted to be inside Haechan so bad, the need growing when he saw how prettily he spread out for him. So vulnerable, a state you wouldn’t see every day, maybe never.

“I don’t care if it hurts,” whispered Haechan and Minhyung unbuckled his belt, and now there was no going back. Their kisses got sloppier, Haechan’s shaky intake of air when he finally entered, made Minhyung's blood flow to his dick and Haechan, who was so sensitive, it even hurt to move, couldn't breathe out words, just whines that were so melodious. 

It did hurt, but it was a kind of hurt Haechan hadn’t experienced before; he wanted to endure it, even if it meant tears and broken cries. Although the length was hard to adjust to and took a few tries, the pain turned into pleasure halfway through. 

Something that they should've thought about earlier was how loud Haechan could get, so Minhyung had to shut him up by kissing him, which sometimes didn't work as well. Of course, Minhyung loved the way Haechan would call out his name, but he wasn't sure if the other inhabitants of the Manhattan would be very fond of it. 

Needy fingers gripped onto Minhyung's hair when Haechan reached his high, the heat in his stomach turning into a fire that quickly spread into every part of his body. Minhyung came a little while later, carefully pulling out so Haechan wouldn't be hurt again.

"Do we still hate each other?"

"Yeah, that's the fun part!"

Minhyung rolled his eyes and sent Haechan a bewildered look, but the younger planted a kiss on his swollen lips to distract him, his signature mischievous smile brighter than ever. Maybe Minhyung was wrong and Haechan wasn't an enigma – he was just a mystery, the best one.

**\---**

Not a lot of time had passed and they could still make it back to the main floor without being too suspicious. Haechan had small difficulties with walking, which made Minhyung laugh, but he helped him downstairs nevertheless. The real challenge was going to be walking to the table by himself and sitting down, but Haechan could take it. Minhyung waited behind the corner, so they wouldn't enter at the same time.

"Sorry, I couldn't find my phone anywhere. What's up?"

"Jisung and Chenle are fighting because of a video game," sighed Taeyong and rubbed his temples, offering Haechan a sip of his boba. 

"You can't evict Animal Crossing characters just because they're ugly, Lele!"

"If you look like a toad and an elephant hybrid with leprechaun clothing then yes, I can," shot Chenle back at Jisung, who was so annoyed, he turned around to not see his face. 

"Minhyung's back too! It took you so long, we thought you died or something," spoke Lucas and waved to Minhyung who sat down next to him. Ten sent Haechan a disappointed glare to which the younger answered with a forced smile. 

"Haechan could you stand up for a second, I lost my keys," grinned Ten and with a wince, Haechan stood up, mentally cursing Ten and his ability to know everything. Minhyung stared at the both of them from across the table with an expression of worry and amusement mixed together.

"Are you done?" forced Haechan out and Ten, who was clearly enjoying this, nodded and motioned for him to sit down again.

"This is what you get for sleeping with the CEO," he whispered and then put down his coffee that he had been holding.

"Now tell me everything."

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry, I'm an angst/comedy writer and this is my first time publishing smut so if it's bad, at least I tried lmao


	8. Keep Dreaming And Dark Scheming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is real if you believe hard enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Latin stuff are spells that don't need to be translated, but they are real spells that you should NOT try at home.
> 
> fyi!  
> Grimoire - a magic spellbook wherein a witch records all of their Spells and Rituals, potions, and herbal knowledge. Darker tomes can also be filled with information for hexes, curses, and other Dark Magics. Grimoires vary in content, depending on the witches who own them, making some more valuable than others given their unique and powerful spells.

It didn’t matter how hard Haechan tried to not think about the Hermit card - sometimes it just slipped into his mind. There was some lost soul out there that needed his help, and as a witch specializing in necromancy, Haechan was the only one who could help. Maybe, he could even bring the spirit back to life, although he had never tried it and he knew about the consequences he must face by messing with dark magic, as it is against nature’s balance to bring back the dead.

So, to try and get at least some kind of contact, Haechan decided to ask help from his great grandmother, who had been a witch as well and a very powerful one. Haechan was young and inexperienced, yet his bloodline had been one of the strongest in the whole world. It was the middle of a day, where the action in the building was on it’s high, but Haechan locked his store for an early lunch break to investigate further.

He kneeled behind the small altar in his shop and took out his grandmother’s grimoire, hoping to find anything that would help him communicate with the spirit. The heavy leather-cased book was over a thousand years old and hand-written in Latin, making it a little complicated to understand sometimes.

_ “Ven el forte es cufe…”  _

The candlelight was wavering before Haechan’s eyes and he felt a presence behind his back, but he didn’t turn around. He kept his focus on the flame and talked to it because it was dangerous to talk to her personally.

_ “Redeo ad finem.” _

He must go to the end. The end - that was a very wide concept, but Haechan understood. He must go back to where the spirit found his end and if it was the same ghost that Chenle had talked about, he must’ve died on the floor that got destroyed. But he couldn’t go there if the floor didn’t exist. 

But impossible wasn’t always impossible, so Haechan took the grimoire with him and walked outside, his steps taking him to the elevator. The elevator? There were only five floors as options, how could he possibly…

The destroyed floor was located under the fifth floor, right? So if Haechan rode to the fifth floor and stopped the elevator in the middle of the fourth and fifth floor, he could pull the doors open and be either met with a wall or another floor. It was worth a try, right?

Although it was daytime and a lot of clients and customers were going in and out of the building, Haechan stepped into the empty elevator and set his plan in motion. He clicked the metallic number five and anxiously waited for it to be right in the middle of the fourth and the fifth floor. 

_ “Phasmatos Siprum, Emnis Abortum, Fasila Quisa Exilum San.” _

The elevator stopped with a shake, almost tripping Haechan over, but he held onto the wall. At first, nothing happened. With his heart threatening to fall out of his chest, Haechan whispered shakily the spell one more time. If there was ever some kind of locked seal here, it was about to be unlocked. And it did, the doors opened and an empty hallway with no windows in sight greeted Haechan. It was eerily quiet, nothing or no one had been here in five years since the building got renovated.

“Hello?”

It was dark, but a faint light came from a room ahead of him. This floor was supposed to be just another home for many businesses, but the saddening sight of a ghost town made Haechan nostalgic for some reason. Like he had been there before and loved it there.

With careful steps, Haechan walked following the light. There must’ve been something there, right? He held his grimoire close to his chest as if it was his talisman for when something bad could happen. When he finally turned in to the doorway, a table with a candle and a man sitting behind it on a stool caught his eye. This wasn’t real, there couldn’t have been anyone alive there.

“Hi?”

“Hello,” said the man with a friendly smile, although it looked frightening in the poor light. The young witch came closer, pressing the grimoire on his chest.

“Are you a… spirit?”

“I’m the physical manifestation of my spirit, but you already knew that,” the spirit looked so humane, it was like Haechan was talking to a real person. He put his grimoire on the table and pulled out the Reversed Hermit card he had taken with him.

“Did you send me this?”

“I did, but I thought you’d make a bigger deal out of the possession.”

“The what?!”

The spirit laughed and sighed, the strands of his hair flying on his forehead. He had been a very handsome person, Haechan was even more scared of that.

“You don’t remember this, do you? I wanted to talk to my brother, but you were weak.”

“You have a brother? Who I talked to? Wait a minute…” Haechan thought back to the time Minhyung asked him about a brother, could it be the spirit? That seemed to be the logical conclusion.

“Mark was just a teenager when it happened. I was supposed to be the heir of the Lee industries before my death. I guess that he is pursuing his music career now?”

This was weird. Well, he was talking to a spirit, so everything would be abnormal, but it was so unexpected to hear the backstory and a ghost who would actually be normal? 

“No, he is the heir now.”

The spirit frowned and shook his head. He must have been a great brother if he cared that much about what Minhyung actually wanted to do.

“But why are you here? Do you have some unfinished business with someone?”

“My fiancee, she was the love of my life. I didn’t know that she would become the cause of my death, but that’s just unfortunate. Of course, my family, I never got to say goodbye to them,” Haechan never doubted Chenle and it was the case this time as well. The spirit looked sad, he had been here all alone for years and in his heart, Haechan felt some kind of guilt.

“I can help you. Well, I think I can.”

“Of course you can, you are a Laveau descendant. Much more powerful than you think,” the spirit smiled one last time and with a blink of an eye, the manifestation had disappeared and the candle on the table had died down, leaving a scared, but determined Lee Haechan in the middle of darkness.

“I will help you say goodbye to them, but it will take some time, okay?” and with that, Haechan ran back to where the elevator had opened and pushed the doors open, never looking back. That was a lesson he had learned the hard way and a rule he would never forget to follow.

  
  


**\---**

  
  


The fresh breath of human air filled Haechan’s lungs and he smiled for he was back in the real world, no ghosts, no spirits. He had to tell someone about the stuff he had gone through and decided for Renjun’s favor, who would be the most welcoming and his winter garden had a calming atmosphere. As he made it to the second floor and stopped by Jaemin’s daycare to say hi, Haechan could enter Renjun’s terrarium with a fresh mind.

“Renjun, I have to tell you something and you won’t believe it, but…” The sight he was met with, was everything but pleasant - Jeno and Renjun making out was definitely not on his must-see list that day. 

“Um, what the hell is going on?”

Jeno jolted up and stared at Haechan with shaky eyes, quickly putting on his shirt and sitting far away from Renjun, who sent the young with an uncomfortable smile.

“This isn’t what it looks like, I swear!” Haechan glared Renjun in bewilderment, not having any words to say to both of them. 

“Okay, it’s kind of what it looks like, but just give me a chance to explain.”

“No, I see what it looks like and I understand, but I thought you and Jaemin were like a thing?” 

Renjun shook his head and bit his lip, taking Jeno’s hand in his, making Haechan coo. They were kind of cute, he had to admit. 

“So… Jeno, Renjun is way out of your league, what dark magic did you use to get him to like you?”

“Very funny,” laughed Jeno sarcastically with an eye roll.

“Are you going to tell the others?” Renjun seemed worried and Haechan acknowledged that, so he shrugged and shook his head. He wasn’t that bad of a person.

“Nah, but you gotta tell the others eventually.”

Jeno nodded and waved the other two goodbye, reading the room that the two needed to talk in private. Renjun sat down on his infamous white plastic garden chair and pointed towards the bench next to it for Haechan to sit on. 

“You and Jeno, huh? I kind of saw it coming, I mean, you two and Jaemin are a weird threesome so it was bound to happen that someone would make a move.”

“I don’t know, it has been going on for a little while now and it’s actually working out. What did you want to tell me?”

“You remember that time when I was possessed?”

Renjun furrowed his eyebrows, “when you were bleeding on the floor?”

“Yeah, I guess. This might sound insane, but that spirit is Minhyung’s brother who died and now needs my help saying goodbye to his family and wife,” Haechan tried to stay serious, but as he read out from Renjun’s expression, he sounded crazy.

“Like the legend Chenle told us? That’s Minhyung’s brother?”

“I can prove it. He died on the floor between the fifth and fourth, he was supposed to be the actual heir of the Lee industries, but since he was killed by his wife, Minhyung had to do it and he hates his job. My grimoire has the spell of possibly reincarnating a spirit wandering between life and death,” he said that so fast, Haechan ran out of breath. Renjun stared at him in disbelief but didn’t quite deny believing him yet. 

“Wait, you can do spells? What kind of a witch are you?” 

“A normal one…? I talk to spirits and ghosts and stopped the elevator earlier and stuff.”

Renjun laughed and scratched his head, ”I thought you were like a witch who can make special tea and stuff.”

“Does everyone think that?”

“You’re kind of eccentric, but endearing, so… yeah.”

Haechan couldn’t believe it but could see why the others would think that. Any normal person would think that. And now, it was time to turn that belief upside down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://curiouscat.me/subanchawrites
> 
> i made a curiouscat!!!
> 
> if you have any fic requests, questions, feedback, please do tell bc thats the only way i can improve hahaha


	9. Ever Since New York

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People may doubt what you say, but will believe what you do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyhey! how's quarantine y'all?
> 
> here's a chap to cheer ya up ;)

It was a Wednesday afternoon and that meant the usual terrace feast with Chinese takeout and gossip. It was almost summertime - the weather was unusually hot for early May. Jeno, who habitually only took his shirt off in the gym, was almost half-naked and earned a lot of looks from the women passing by. 

“Stop being happy about it,” spat Renjun and pulled Jeno’s wrist so he’d sit down.

“Let them watch, that’s probably the most action they’ve gotten in a year,” said Ten with a bizarre enthusiasm, making Chenle shake his head in disappointment.

“Hyung just wants to see Jeno’s abs.”

“I do not!” Jaemin and Renjun laughed at that response, embarrassing Ten even further so he had to join in to Lucas’ and Minhyung’s conversation, which was so boring, he almost fell asleep.

“We’re not boring!”

“You talked about Fullmetal Alchemist for half an hour, weebs,” rolled Ten his eyes, earning a glare from Minhyung.

“Hey, you okay?”

Jisung, who was usually kind of withdrawn, showed small signs of worry for Haechan. The latter grinned quietly and nodded, not bothering the maknae with the details of his dilemmas. First off, there was the ghost issue. Secondly, the CEO issue. He kept pondering over the question of whether their hook up was just a one-time thing or not. Did it mean anything? Haechan didn’t know the answer himself.

“You’re coming for my brand, hyung,” smiled the younger kindly and offered him a fortune cookie. 

“What does it say?”

“People may doubt what you say, but will believe what you do. That’s kind of smart, isn’t it?” Renjun spared an expressive glance to Haechan, who coughed and attracted everyone’s attention.

“Chenle, remember the legend you told us?” Everyone gathered around the bench where Haechan and Jisung were sitting at, Chenle nodding enthusiastically to his hyung.

“I kind of… dug deeper, if you could say that. That time when I was bleeding and telling Minhyung about his brother, I remember it now…” Haechan sent a bitter frown to Minhyung who was chewing the inside of his cheek, “I know what happened to him.”

“Jaehyun. His name was Jaehyun. It’s been a while, but he is in a better place now.”

Taeyong and Lucas hugged him, the sight was adorable yet melancholic at the same time. Soon enough, everyone else joined in but Haechan. He wasn’t going to hug Minhyung, because his brother was dead - that would have been too hurried, given that he could still help Jaehyun.

“What if I told you that I can help you talk to him again?”

A strong silence followed, Minhyung looking at Haechan in pure rage as if he was making fun of him. The CEO walked closer, leveling his gaze to Haechan’s who still, after everything, wasn’t scared of him.

“Do you think it’s funny?”

“I’m not making fun of you. I’m saying that I can help because he asked for it.”

“How? He died, I… I went to his funeral and I saw my brother, the only damn person who ever cared about me, lying in a casket, cold and lifeless,” Minhyung wasn’t breaking yet, but Haechan sure was. He wiped away a tear with the sleeve of his striped shirt, hoping that no one would see that. _I don’t care about his feelings_ is something Haechan kept repeating nonstop, thinking that it would actually become true if he did it.

“I talked to him. He was sad because you never pursued your music career,” whispered Haechan in a hoarse voice, taking Minhyung by surprise, who couldn’t get any words out of him. Haechan couldn’t have possibly known that, the only way was if he had spoken to Jaehyun, which was impossible.

“Music career? Minhyung, you were a musician?” asked Ten in surprise, lightening the mood a little. Even Minhyung had something very close to a smile on his face.

“Yeah, I wanted to be a producer and a songwriter. Too bad, I’m the boss now,” chuckled the young man and walked closer to Haechan, who had been scared of his reactions up until now.

“You spoke to him? How?”

“I think I should start from the beginning, shouldn’t I?” Haechan couldn’t help but smile at everyone’s curious faces. He sat back down on the bench and Taeyong wrapped a blanket around him because it was getting colder as the night progressed. And then Haechan told them about talking to Jaehyun, getting to the destroyed floor, the Hermit card and the mirror. By the end of it, no one was brave enough to doubt him, but Haechan knew that some would stay skeptical until they’ve seen something happen. Minhyung was confused - as in he didn’t know whether to believe Haechan or not. He really wanted to talk to his brother though, so he decided to hope. Sometimes, you need hope, before you could actually start believing.

“So there’s that. Take it or leave it.”

“Although this is very hard to believe, I’ll try. Thank you for telling us,” spoke Jaemin and gave Haechan a side hug, which warmed the younger up in the cold wind that had risen.

“I think we should all head home now, have some rest. Haechan, want to tag along?” told Ten, who lived very close to Haechan, hence they usually went to work together. Haechan was about to say yes and pack up, but Minhyung stopped him.

“I want to talk to you, alone.”

“Sure? Ten, you can go without me.”

Minhyung pulled Haechan to the other side of the terrace, his expression was anxious yet kind. By the rustic fence, that had been there for many years, Haechan sat down and motioned for him to speak.

“I don’t know anything about witches, or witchcraft, but if what you said was true and he really wants to speak to me… Well, I guess, I’m trying to say… Thank you,” Minhyung smiled and Haechan shook his head with a giggle like it wasn’t a big deal. Which it wasn’t, at first.

“It’s nothing, I’m just a messenger.”

“And about what happened in my…”

“Don’t. It didn’t mean anything, right?” Haechan wanted him to tell that it was indeed nothing, so he didn’t have to blame himself any longer.

“If that’s what you want,” said Minhyung with remorse, staring at Haechan like he was expecting him to claim otherwise. 

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Minhyung stood up and dusted off his jeans, before taking one last look at him. He looked like he was keeping a lot inside, but had decided to bottle it up. The wind was now howling and even colder than before, dancing in Haechan’s hair like it was meant to be.

“It means that for a person who cries about me, you’re pretty heartless, but if I’m only a one-night stand for you, then it’s fine,” that sentence pressed on Haechan’s heart, hurting his chest and feelings in the process.

“You are not… Minhyung, did you think that I’d give my virginity to a person I didn’t care about?”

“I… I was your first? Why didn’t you tell me?” Minhyung wasn’t angry at him anymore, maybe a little for not telling him, but he felt special. It was something so out of character to Haechan, giving his enemy the most exclusive gift you could possibly get. But then again, Minhyung had to remind himself, that he didn’t know him at all. And that was what attracted him to try and solve the mystery surrounding Lee Haechan the most.

“For a first time, you were pretty good.”

“Was I?” The teasing tone in Haechan’s voice made Minhyung roll his eyes. They walked back in comfortable silence, both smiles getting brighter each second. At that moment, Haechan looked so seraphic to Minhyung and honestly, he didn’t care anymore about his intentions, were they to be good or bad, because Minhyung knew that in some deep corner of Haechan’s heart, the boy cared for him. And that was enough for now.

  
  


**\---**

  
  


It was the next morning, Minhyung had just sent off Yuta to get his daily coffee and had sat down behind his desk. For the first time in years, he had hope. Hope to maybe turn his life around and get out of the boring nine-to-seven office. But his mood was ruined by an unexpected call from his mother.

_“Minhyung-ah, are you working?”_

_“Yes, I actually don’t have time…”_

_“Nonsense! You must always make time for your mother!”_

_“Alright, what do you want?”_

_“I and the Seo family have been talking and thinking that it would be just wonderful for business if you and Wendy got engaged! Wouldn’t that be great? Two powerful families working as a team! What do you say?”_ Minhyung’s head fell with a sigh, dearly hoping that his mother was joking. Yuta brought his coffee to the table but didn’t leave despite Minhyung insisting.

_“Mom, that’s a rash decision. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”_

_“Huh? Wendy seemed to love it.”_

_“Mom, she’s lesbian. She’s only acting this way in front of her parents. She doesn’t like me.”_

_“That’s too bad then, but I think her parents know what’s best for her. And so do I. Will you please consider it at least? And even if you don’t, we’ll go through with it.”_

_“Bye, mom,”_ Minhyung hung up and glared at Yuta, who was standing in front of him with a scowl on his face.  
  


“Sir, are you really considering it?”

“The engagement? That depends. Not that I want to, I just need a second opinion,” Minhyung smiled boastfully and clapped his hands together. It would all come down to whether Jaehyun approved of it or not.

“I’m going to give you a second opinion right now. Do not break hearts you didn’t intend to break,” and with that, Yuta was off, leaving a bewildered Minhyung in his office, reflecting over what he had just stated. 


	10. Now or Never

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything's not written in the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING!  
> This chapter contains kind-of explicit smut and mentions of death.   
> If you wish to still read the chap without the smut, stop reading after "Am I there?"   
> If anyone missed it, m & h aren't in an established relationship, they're just having sex lmao

“Okay, what do you need me here for?” asked Yuta with small suspicion in his voice. Haechan sat him down next to the shrine in his store and pulled out his grandmother’s grimoire. Yuta smiled and examined the book, turning pages and reading the contents in it. After Yuta had bought some essentials from his shop, he and Haechan had come together quite a lot to discuss matters about witchcraft. It turned out, that Yuta was a witch as well, but far more powerful than Haechan.

“Let me guess: the ghost on the destroyed floor asked your help and because it’s Minhyung’s older brother, you have an urge to redeem yourself? How are you going to help him? He’s dead, he was always meant to die. This goes against the balance of Nature.”

Haechan raised an eyebrow in question, as he didn’t understand how Yuta knew all of this. But then again, Yuta was an experienced witch and had been working in this building for a long time. There was a big elephant in the room, neither of them dared to mention, yet Haechan had to. The young witch pulled out his tarot cards, handing them to Yuta. 

“Read mine,” Yuta shuffled the deck and closed his eyes, unexpecting of what would be the outcome, but it seemed like Haechan knew already.

“What is the meaning of my life?” whispered Haechan and looked up to Yuta, who spread three cards on the table and when he turned the other side, the concern in his face growing second by second.

“The Hanged Man, sacrifice. The Tower, sudden upheaval. The Wheel of Fortune, inevitable fate.”

“Since I was fourteen, I have had the same cards every time.”

“Have you thought this through? I will help you, but once you have decided, there’s no going back. Is your life worth Jaehyun’s? You’re still young, you could do so much,” Yuta looked like he was going to cry, but Haechan shook his head and grinned. Even if he was going to die for someone he never knew, it could give Minhyung an opportunity to finally pursue his dreams and their family would be complete again. What was Haechan's worth? Nothing, he was an outcast in his own family. But Jaehyun would be so loved, the Lee brothers could have their dream lives.

“We’re going to bring Jaehyun back to his family, so he could have a life he got taken away. This is my final destination.”

“Will you tell Minhyung about your decision?”

“In the end. They will all know because you will tell them. Tell them when I’m saying the spell, then there will be no chance they’ll interrupt and mess everything up. Don’t cry, hyung,” cooed Haechan and swept away his tears, making Yuta ruffle his hair and pout.

“You’ve earned the witch title, Lee Haechan. You’re braver than anyone I’ve ever known,” he hugged Haechan, who was smiling sadly. The Resurrection spell, one of the most dangerous spells ever and Haechan had decided to face that difficult challenge, in exchange for everyone around him being happy again. He wasn’t doing to redeem himself or impress anyone, he had decided to go through with it because he felt like it was right. And the feelings he had developed for Minhyung only helped him decide. After they slept together, Haechan found himself caring for the CEO more than he liked to admit. 

“It’s almost nighttime, why are you two still at work? Why is my secretary crying, Haechan, what did you do?” Minhyung walked in to find Yuta and Haechan on the floor, his secretary sobbing like a little child. Haechan laughed and stood up, pulling Yuta with him. 

“We were just hanging out. Nothing special.”

“Minhyung, take Haechan home, I’ll take the bus,” remarked Yuta chirpily and put Haechan’s grimoire on the shrine, waving both of them goodbye.

“You don’t have to.”

“You heard Yuta, I will take you home,” giggled Minhyung and jingled his car keys, causing Haechan’s cheeks to burn up. It was just a nice gesture, but it still bothered him. In a good way.

“Or we could…”   
  


“My place?” 

“You read my mind.”

Minhyung rolled his eyes and let Haechan close up the store, before dragging him to the parking lot where his car already awaited the both of them. The everlasting smile on Minhyung’s face made Haechan think what would it be like when he got his brother back. Would he be mad at him for not telling earlier that to get a dead person back, someone has to be sacrificed and that the sacrifice would be him, the spellcaster? Or would he be happy and appreciate the gesture without words? All that was an uncertain reality, which was closer than Haechan would have imagined.

“What are you thinking about?”

“The future.”

“Am I there?”

Haechan didn’t answer, instead, he rested his hand on Minhyung’s right hand on the gear lever. The drive wasn’t long, but in silence, it felt like forever. The city lights were brighter than usual, hurting Haechan’s eyes after a while, so he just closed them. 

_ Sweet, sweet fate _

_ I had about all that can take _

_ You're my living in the breath that I make _

_ Is it yours? I wonder _

\---

“You live in a penthouse?!” Haechan stood on the doorway in astonishment, his eyes seizing the huge space in front of him. The hue of light coming from the fenestra illuminated the frame of the living room, giving the place an ambiguous vibe. Minhyung laughed and took a remote, which put the led lights in the ceiling to work by pressing. 

“Thought you’d like it.”

“Do you want to know what I’d like more?” purred the younger, making unruly eye contact with Minhyung, who pulled him closer and raised an eyebrow in question. Haechan moved his head in the direction of the bedroom and a smile formed on Minhyung’s lips. After that quick rendezvous in his office, he failed to get Haechan’s voice and body out of his head.

“Did I hurt you last time?” Haechan bit his lip, knowing he got caught. The pain was unbearable for the whole ride home, but it was worth it. 

“Maybe.”

Minhyung rolled his eyes at his stubbornness, making Haechan groan and pull the older into his bedroom. It was even prettier than the living room; they were in the heart of Seoul, quite literally, considering how close some skyscrapers were to the windows. The soft covers of his bed got thrown to the side and Haechan’s playful smile was the last thing he remembered.

Haechan’s lips sweetly brushing over his escalated quickly into him flicking his tongue over Minhyung’s bottom lip, making him shiver. He swirled his tongue around Haechan’s, the younger raked his fingers through Minhyung’s raven hair, gripping it tightly and moaning out his name.

It was a boost to Minhyung’s ego, that was evident when his hands didn’t hesitate anymore to cup Haechan’s ass, stunning the younger and causing his brain to short-circuit.

Haechan trailed his wet tongue from Minhyung’s jawline to neck, the hovering of his hot breath and delicate fingers trailing the outline of his Adam’s apple forcing Minhyung to bite back a moan. Haechan sucked the skin of his neck into his mouth, the desire to feel his silky skin against his own growing. 

“I have an important meeting... in the morning and there, oh fuck, can’t be any marks.”

“Then you have some explaining to do tomorrow,” teased Haechan with a lustful smirk on his flushed face. Minhyung reached to his nightstand drawer and took out a bottle of lube, making Haechan shy away.

“I think we forgot this last time, that’s why it hurt.”

Haechan pulled him back to bed, absentmindedly kissing Minhyung and unzipping his jeans, before smiling lightly, giving his full consent. Minhyung slowly pulled the hem of his boxers and poured the cold liquid in his hand. Gently, he slid in one finger, making Haechan gasp.

His sinuous fingers disappeared into Haechan one by one, the pace was quite slow at first, but the more aroused Haechan got, he grew desperate. Half-coherent moans and sighs changed to cries and by the end, Haechan was nearly riding his fingers and Minhyung was most definitely hard and jerking himself off to the younger’s shaky whines. It looked like Haechan wanted to tell something, but his own pride held him back.

“ I’ll do anything you want me to do, but you have to say it out loud.”

“I want to… watch you,” he whispered with a sharp exhale, flustering Minhyung, who was still willing to do it. He licked his lips and looked up to Haechan, who was out of breath and recovering from Minhyung rimming him so hard just so he could get his dick inside of him again.

Minhyung’s moans were raspier than his, but still so melodious. The sight of him stroking his cock and his fierce eyes locking with Haechan’s, made the younger want to step in and take over. He had imagined what Minhyung would look like when he was cumming, but he didn’t imagine it to turn him on  _ that  _ much. Yet, he wouldn’t let Minhyung get off so easily.

“Finish inside me, I mean it,” Haechan ran his fingers over Minhyung’s lower abdomen with a sinful smile, making the older gulp and send him a glare. He clutched Haechan’s hips and sat him down in-between his legs. As soon as Haechan sunk down to his dick, the friction caused by the younger being still tight, made Minhyung groan in pleasure.

Haechan took his time before he started moving, the slow pace enough to make his nails dig into Minhyung’s thighs. Because he was seated back faced to Minhyung, he couldn’t see him but when his cold hands pulled him down harder, Haechan felt Minhyung pulse inside of him causing a fire pool low in his abdomen.

“Your legs are trembling, do I feel that good?”

Surprisingly, Haechan picked up the pace shutting Minhyung up and edging him closer to the finish line. His eyes fluttered close and Minhyung’s low growl made his own end come earlier than he’d expected. 

“You’ll be the death of me one day,” a soft murmur escaped Minhyung’s lips in the middle of Haechan’s broken whimpers and he could hear the blood rushing in his ears. Suddenly, the world started spinning and all Minhyung could feel was an ecstatic pleasure take over him. Haechan intertwined his fingers with his and stopped moving, a silence falling on the two.

Carefully, Minhyung pulled out and turned Haechan over to face him, both panting but content. The younger went down on him, licked the remains of the cum off his dick and kissed him even more breathless than he already was. Minhyung chuckled and pulled Haechan in his embrace and the bed covers over them. 

“What are we?”

It was a question Haechan wasn’t expecting this soon, yet he knew it would come sooner or earlier. He sighed and rested his head on Minhyung’s chest, while the older was fondling with his hair. He couldn’t say anything definite, because the future was yet undecided for Haechan, but until then...

“I don’t know. I just want you to stay. Stay with me, we can figure everything else out later.”

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't come for me okay?? i don't want to kill haechan but im considering some alternatives that would let the main characters live lmao   
> sorry for the angst, im good at writing it i think hahah that's why i put it everywhere  
> and yes, the resurrection spell will need a human sacrifice bc i can't have haechan harvest the power of at least 100 other witches bc that would go against the storyline hahah 
> 
> we'll meet jaehyun soon tho that's fun


	11. Pandora's Box

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, change is inevitable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's a filler chapter before the you-know-what 
> 
> yeehaw tell me what do u think that will happen 
> 
> or check out my new fic "Freak Havoc" which is even more supernatural ;)

It was the following day and around 7.25 in the morning, Haechan woke up to loud traffic sounds and birds chirping. He groaned and when he opened his eyes in frustration, he found himself in a foreign bed. On the nightstand next to the headboard were two phones and one was his. Haechan’s eyes adjusted to the light coming from the wide-open windows and discovered a couple of missed calls from Ten, with who he was supposed to go to work. 

_ “Where are you? We are supposed to leave in 10 minutes.” _

Haechan scowled and rubbed his eyes, taking in the sight of a heap of clothes discarded on the floor,  _ “I just woke up and I’m not home.” _

_ “What do you mean you’re not home?” _

_ “That means that I am somewhere else,”  _ Ten wasn’t happy with that response, Haechan could tell without hearing or seeing him. Suddenly, he heard a groan from beside him and a messy mop of hair and owl-like eyes rose from under the blanket.

“What does he want so early?”

“Nothing, we were supposed to go to work together,” whispered the young witch and covered up the speaker of his phone.

“Tell him you’ll see him there, what’s the big deal?”   
  


_ “Hello? I can hear you talking, maybe you’d like to tell me what the hell is going on?!” _

_ “I guess I have a ride?”  _ Minhyung sat up and took Haechan’s phone, greeting Ten with a low ‘hi’ that made the man shriek. The messy hair and morning voice fastened the younger’s heart rate quite a bit, but he just shook it off and tried to focus on Ten’s screaming. He wasn’t deflected at all.

_ “I can’t believe this! Are you two together for real this time?” _ Haechan laughed awkwardly and glimpsed at Minhyung in panic, who to his surprise wasn’t making as big of a deal out of this as himself. Haechan had to admit that the closeness with Minhyung was quite distracting after all and the way he was eyeing his neck made Haechan want to cry out of frustration.

_ “Uh, I don’t know?”  _

_ “How can you not know? I taught you better than this,”  _ Ten said with disappointment and hung up, to which Minhyung reacted with a small chuckle.

“We should get out of bed,” mumbled Haechan, hoping that Minhyung would let him off the hook, but it seemed like he had other plans. 

“Let’s postpone being productive for a couple of more minutes, shall we?” The tone of his voice was something that Haechan loathed and loved at the same time. 

“Important meeting, remember?” 

Minhyung simply smiled like a child before leaning in to press one kiss to his heart-shaped lips and then hastily got out of bed. Haechan shook his head with a laugh and picked up his underwear from the floor, hoping that none of his clothes went missing the night before.

“I don’t have anything in the refrigerator, is cereal okay?” Asked Minhyung when he discovered that the only things there were pickles and a month old tomato. The box of Fruit Loops made it’s way to the kitchen table and Haechan raised his eyebrows in question.

“Fruit Loops? What are you, twelve?”

“Uh, I like, can’t cook. At all,” confessed the young man with a flustered giggle and sat down next to Haechan, who was stifling a laugh because of Minhyung’s duality - the man was a little altered from how he seemed to be at work.

“Your tie, let me?” The younger straightened out Minhyung’s tie with such focus that it made him smile. When Haechan looked up again, he saw him already staring at him which got the boy starstruck. Minhyung didn’t know why his cheeks were heating up, so out of frenzy, he spun away and accidentally knocked over a picture frame on the table. Unluckily, it was the only picture of him and Jaehyun that he had left so he prayed to God that the glass survived the fall. He quickly picked it up and set it back on the table, fortuitously, everything was okay.

“Is that Jaehyun?” 

“Yeah. I miss him a lot,” Haechan sighed and smiled bitterly. Soon, Minhyung would be happy again. Of course, he wouldn’t be there to see it, but that didn’t matter.

“You will have him back, I know it.”

“Is it insensitive to ask when will you do it?” Judging from the sudden change of atmosphere, Minhyung thought that he had crossed a line, but he guessed incorrectly.

“It’s fine because it’s not going to be long from now. The moon is full tonight, so... at midnight, I’ll go through with it,” answered Haechan and the excited smile from Minhyung broke his heart. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he wasn’t ready to go yet. Yet, he made a promise to himself to not back down, no matter what. 

“Hey, are you okay?” 

“Yeah. Let’s go?” Haechan always tried to give the best he could, but this time it felt like it wasn’t enough, yet this wasn’t up for him to decide. 

\---

  
  


At around lunch, Taeyong came by Haechan’s shop with a special request. He had a growing interest in what Haechan could do, so he requested a tarot reading, which was a child’s play for the young witch.

“What are you hoping for?”   
  


“Good things, like love and money,” laughed Taeyong and eyed curiously the pack. Haechan’s grin grew into a smirk and he shrugged, already feeling like where this was going to go.

“So you’re single?”

  
  
“Through and through. Now that everyone is hitting it off, I kind of want to find myself, someone, too. I just need to be sure if I even have hope,” Haechan was sure that a guy as handsome as Taeyong would find someone in 5 minutes if he wanted to, but he kept quiet. He decided to go for his usual three-card method and laid the cards on the table.

“Hmm, off the bat, I think these are going to be mostly positive cards. Let’s see then,” carefully he turned the first card, which was the upright Star.

“You have a lot of potential and are in the perfect place for significant personal growth and development. I suggest you’d change your perspective or try to discover new things and you’ll have a great life,” spoke Haechan and Taeyong nodded and listened attentively.

“The other card is a reversed World. That means that you shouldn’t rush into things and search for short-cuts. I guess that this answers your love question: it will come, just wait and be patient,” the older one sighed and frowned, thinking that Haechan wouldn’t notice. But he understood the reaction, Haechan wasn’t the most patient person in the world himself. In fact, he was so impatient that he ran away from home because he just couldn’t wait a year to get out of there.

“And the last one…” Haechan picked up the last card but turned it back over when he saw what it was. Taeyong looked up to him curiously and asked if everything was alright.

“No, this card can’t be right,” whispered the boy and felt his breathing accelerate.

“What is it? Is it bad?”   
  


“It’s Death. But it’s a positive card, it symbolizes inevitable change, so don’t worry. I’m just…” Haechan stood up and tried to calm himself down. Truthfully, he was just scared. Death didn’t frighten him, but he was worried about his friends and their state after everything will go down. There was a knock on the door and Yuta’s lean figure leaned on the wall. Taeyong bit his lip and glanced over to the last card, not being the most peaceful.

“I came here to tell you that I will help you with the spell. You can’t do this alone,” stated Yuta and came closer to give the younger a hug. It surprised Haechan, but he closed his eyes and let him. Taeyong who was dumbfounded of everything that was happening, stared at the two with wide eyes.

“What spell? Are we talking about Minhyung’s brother?”

“Yeah. Tonight he’ll get him back,” Yuta sent Haechan a mysterious smile that made the younger’s insides twirl. He wasn’t going to let Yuta die with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyheyhey whatsup im switching between writing two fics at once and editing so thats fun


	12. I'm Not Letting Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Die Alone - Finneas

“Let’s go,” whispered Haechan and pointed towards the elevator. They had decided to go through with the ritual where he had seen him last. He brought his Hermit card, just in case. 

The white cases of his grimoire started to look extremely rattled, nevertheless, Haechan kept the book close to him. 

To cramp all the eleven people inside the elevator, they had to do some work, but in the end, everyone managed. Yuta and Haechan were both a little jittery, they had never shown their abilities to the others. The younger threw a side-glance to Minhyung, who had been smiling the whole time. The sight gave him foreign courage and determination out of nowhere.

The elevator dinged for the fourth floor and Yuta held out his hand for Haechan to guide them through the dark corridor. 

"Ugh, why is it so creepy in here," whined Jaemin and held onto Renjun who had a scowl on his face. 

"Stop complaining," sighed Jisung and nudged the older, giving him a judging glance. Chenle, who was very excited, kept jumping by Jisung's side who had already had enough of his shenanigans.

Haechan pointed towards the door in front of him. It was left open and from inside, he could see that same old green chair and candle on the table. This time he had to light it himself, but burned his finger in the process.

"Let me," whispered Minhyung and took the matches from him. Haechan was shaking all over, but he didn't have any clue as to why it was happening.

"You're nervous."

"No shit, I'm about to summon a dead person," deadpanned the young witch and a small smile grew on Minhyung's face. 

"I believe in you, okay? I mean, something that bad can't happen, right?"

Haechan bit his lip and gave him a small nod. His heart had jumped up to his throat, the anxiety became slowly unbearable.

Yuta set down the candles in a circle on the ground and took out a small knife to scrape a pentagram on the rocky floor. The chilly breeze coming from a broken window danced around with the tall flames.

"Whatever you do, don't speak while I'm going through with the ritual. I need to concentrate," warned Haechan and sat down beside Yuta who read his grimoire. 

"Alright, I'll start. Let's see then…"

The others watched from afar with a growing curiosity. Minhyung fiddled with his fingers in anticipation; he was about to get his brother, his best friend in the whole world, back. Alive and breathing. 

" _Phasmatos revenios un animum…"_

Haechan's hollow voice echoed off the walls of the hidden floor. There was no going back now. Yuta chanted with him, but his voice broke and he fell on the ground, before getting up again. But he couldn't reach to Haechan anymore. He had manifested a shield using Yuta's power.

" _Phasmatos revenios un Animum…_ " 

"Are you insane?!" 

Yuta's horrified face signaled to the others that something went wrong. Minhyung stepped forward and grabbed Yuta's arm, as to ask what was going on. The secretary looked at Minhyung and then back at Haechan who sent him a sad smile. 

" _Phasmatos revenios un Animum."_

The final words of enchantment got lost in the space in front of Haechan and as he glanced at his friends one last time, a single tear fell down his cheeks. He never thought of finding a family after running away from his real one, yet everyone made him feel welcome from the first day. He was going to give up his own happiness for someone else's. But it was Minhyung's. 

And it was worth it. 

" _Goodbye_ ," whispered the boy to them before fainting. 

Yuta's head had cleared up. His face showed no emotion, at all. Everyone around him wanted, no, _needed_ answers.

"What did you do?!" screamed Minhyung and woke Yuta from his daze. He gulped and sighed, his eyes mirroring everything he was going through.

"This was supposed to happen; you get Jaehyun in exchange of Haechan."

Ten and Taeyong ran to the boy, trying to get his breathing normal, but it was too late. Minhyung felt like someone had punched him in the face, more than a thousand times. He was angry, he was furious, but now wasn't the time. His whole world was crumbling at his feet and there was nothing he could've done to put a stop to it.

“Why didn’t you help him?!” Jeno yelled and stared at Yuta with glossy eyes. The man closed his eyes, the expression on his face was sorrowful. There was nothing he could have done to save him. Except there was, but Yuta wasn’t sure if it would work.

“You can’t die yet, this can’t be it,” whispered Lucas and bit his lip until it bled. It hurt, so bad. Lucas wanted to do something, but the look on Taeyong’s face said that there was nothing left to do. 

“Haechan…” 

Minhyung’s cracking voice surprised those, who didn’t know, but those who did, looked sorry for him. Ten couldn’t imagine the pain he was going through and he took his hand, hoping that the gesture would give Minhyung the strength to speak his mind. The boy shook him off and hung his head low. 

It felt like time stopped. Ten had had enough and couldn’t get words out of him anymore, instead, he let out choked whimpers from the corner of the room. He had been the closest to the boy and it felt like losing a little brother to him. Renjun didn’t let go of Haechan. He clung onto his arm while staring at Jeno and Jaemin with hollow eyes. Yuta was mumbling distantly something but didn’t get their attention. Lucas kept hugging Minhyung, who was going through it silently. He didn’t dare to raise his gaze to the once so warm boy he had grown so attached to. There was a sour taste in his mouth, he wanted to scream but he couldn’t. Nothing came out. Unsaid words and gestures blocked his throat and all he could manage was a small whisper.

"Don't leave me yet."

A screech from the floorboard scraping against the leg of a chair woke everyone from their dreary state. A man; someone Minhyung knew as well as the back of his hand. It was Jaehyun, sitting there, his suit stained with blood and hair tousled: he must’ve come back the way he left. The man looked around with confusion, he didn’t recognize anyone, not even his own brother. 

“W-what is going on?! Where am I?”

Yuta stepped closer to him, his hands trembling with fear and rage. Jaehyun held up his hands in defense, his breath hitched and for a millisecond, Yuta felt bad for him. He raised his hand to punch the poor guy but stopped. Jaemin’s ears caught something; which oddly sounded like slow breathing. A sharp inhale followed, making all the heads spin. The boy in Minhyung’s arms jolted wide awake, the arms that supported his weight disappeared and he opened his eyes. Minhyung didn't register it at first, but as he looked up from the dusty floor and saw Haechan staring into the void in the dark room, his dark eyes lifelike and his lean figure breathing once again, the broken pieces of his heart reached out to mend themselves together. 

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its not long, but i feel like this was enough.
> 
> sorry for not updating for like a month.
> 
> love yall


End file.
